Sep 19, 2023

LBC -1995-1996- Haven't You Heard...? (Doggystyle / Death Row Unreleased)

  • Death Row's shelved project recorded in 95 with Snoop Doggy Dogg's side label Doggystyle
  • mostly recorded before 2Pac arrival at Death Row and shelved because of a disagreement about royalties
 
cover of the DGC bootleg edition of the album
 

Snoop Doggy Dogg presents... The LBC Crew : Haven't You Heard ?

The official 2011 WIDEawake edition is totally unsatisfying... Firstly, it doesn't include any version of "Beware of My Crew", neither "Doggystyle '96", two absolute mega hits... Maybe even more important, it is said it is not the final mix of the songs (according to Banned from Bomb1st forum, who pretends to own an advanced mix of the album)... Instead, it includes "Doggfather's Disciple (Fucked Up)", "Jacca's Reunion", "Gangsta" and the Daz remix of "Out the Moon", probably recorded a bit later in early '96. That's why many unofficial bootleg editions have been leaked. The "DGC" bootleg pretends to follow an original tracklist from late '95. 
 
DGC's Original album (1995) - Grab it there

1. Intro 2 The Indo (by Snoop Doggy Dogg) feat. Big Pimpin'
2. Out The Moon feat. Soopafly
3. Dippin-N-My Low Low feat. Coco Loc (Low Life Gangstas)
4. Get Up 2 Get Down feat. Low Life Gangstas & Sho Shot
5. Doggy Style '96 (LBC Crew) feat. Deadly Threat, Warren G
6. Beware Of My Crew feat. Roger Troutman
7. Baby Come Home (by So.Sentrelle)
8. Floss'n
9. One 213 feat. Soopafly & Daz
10. I'll Smoke 2 That feat. Deadly Threat
11. It Feels Good 2 B D.P.G. feat. Nate Dogg
12. Funk Wit Yo Brain (Interlude) *
13. Indo Blueberry (Original) (by Bad Azz) feat. Dogg Pound & Prince Ital Joe
14. Hit Rocks (by Snoop Dogg) *

Rap - Techniec, Bad Azz, Lil C-Style featuring So Sentrelle, Tray Deee, Soopafly & Snoop Doggy Dogg
Producer - LT Hutton (2,11,12), Daz (9), Soopafly (1,2,4,9), DJ Pooh (2,5,6,8,11,14), Snoop Dogg (2,4,11), Dave Swang (3,7), The White Guy (3), Sam Sneed (13)
  • Tracks 5, 6, 12 & 14 are not in WIDEawake 2011 edition.
  • Tracks 12 and 14 were taken from Snoop's Lost Sessions Vol. 1 and from Smokefest World Tour / Dead Man Walking and could be different from what has been released (the DGC credits announce raps by Tray Deee & McGruff for the first and lyrics written by Lil C-Style for the second...)
 
 
DGC's Bonus CD (1995-1996) - Grab it there

1. Doggfather's Disciple (Fucked Up) feat. Bo Roc (The Dove Shock)
2. Out The Moon (Daz Remix) feat. Soopafly, Snoop Dogg & Daz
3. Gangsta feat. Snoop Dogg
4. I Will Survive I Don't Hang (by Soopafly)
5. Jacca's Reunion feat. Big C-Style
6. Gold Rush (Original) Power 106 Drop feat. Low Life Gangstas & So.Sentrelle
7. Gravy Train feat. Snoop Dogg Verbal Shots feat. Kurupt & O.F.T.B.
8. Wanna B From D.P.G. (6 Shooter)
9. Beware Of My Crew (DJ Pooh Remix)
10. Nina Ross (Super Ho) (by Lil C-Style) feat. Snoop Dogg
11. Eastside (Original) feat. Daz & Snoop Dogg Cam-Am Sessions (by Bad Azz)
12. Keep It Real (Party People) No Recognition
13. Keep It Real (Snoop) Stone Cold Corleone (by Soopafly & Techniec) feat. Bo Roc
14. Droppin' Bombz (In The Show OST) (by Tray Deee & So.Sentrelle)
 
Bonus Tracks :
15. Beware of My Crew (Original)
16. St. Ides Commercial (by Lil C-Style & Techniec)
 
Producer - LT Hutton (1,3,5,6,8,11), Daz (2), Soopafly (4,12,13), DJ Pooh (9), Dave Swang (14)
 
We chose to scrap some songs which were recorded during Snoop's Doggfather sessions and could form a kind of "Eastside Party" bonus disc (cf. Tha Doggfather sessions). Tracks 1, 7, 10 and 13, without Snoop, were probably recorded at that time, when Lil' C-Style was not recording with the group anymore.
 
- Tracks 4, 6 have been released in Smokefest World Tour  and in Tha Doggfather's Demo 20th Anniversary (unofficial, 2016)
- Track 7 & 13 have been released in Lost Sessions Vol. 1 (WIDEawake, 2009)
- Track 11 & 12 have been released in Snoop Doggy Dogg in Death Row's Greatest Hits
- Tracks 1, 2, 3 & 5 were released in WIDEawake edition.
- Track 9 has been released in Beware of My Crew 12'' (Doggystyle, 1995) 
- Track 4 has been released in A Thin Line Between Love & Hate OST (1995), like 
- Track 14 has been released in The Show OST (1995)
- Track 8 has been released in The Ultimate Death Row Collection (WIDEawake, 2009)
- Tracks 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 15 were recorded during Haven't You Heard sessions (summer/fall of 1995)
- Tracks 1, 7, 10, 13 were recorded during Tha Doggfather sessions (1st half of 1996)
- Tracks 6, 11 and 16 are freestyles probably recorded in 1996

 
 
nice cover of another bootleg edition
 you can grab it here

Snoop Doggy Dogg presents... LBC Crew !!

LBC Crew members firstly appear in Murder Was The Case soundtrack, Tray Deee in "21 Street" with Snoop Dogg, Lil' C-Style in "Who Got The Gangsta Shit" with Snoop & tha Dogg Pound (first production by Soopafly), Techniec in "One Life To Live" featuring Snoop & Lady of Rage (recently released in Snoop's Lost Sessions Vol. 1, in which Snoop re-uses verses from "Poor Young Dave"). Even the unreleased "I'd Rather Lie To Ya" by Bad Azz (prod. by Daz) could also be a leftover from that project. A project that also saw the first step to a tight connection between Daz, Snoop and 2Pac with "Life's So Hard" (cf. F.T.W. (Fuck The World) / M.W.T.C. leftover tracks), after a kind of tension when 2Pac had to scrap his Thug Life original project for having been leaked and Snoop using the same beat than "Lie 2 Kick It" in "Gz and Hustlas" : in the beginning of 94, 2Pac criticize "Gin N Juice" in "Hennessey".
 
After the recording of Dogg Pound's Dogg Food in Dec. 94 - April 95 (So.Sentrelle, Tray Deee and the manager of the group Big C-Style appear it it), Death Row was busy to record Dr. Dre's new Chronic 2 project album (maybe a Dre version of "Can't C Me" has been made at that time...). So Snoop Dogg founded his own subsidiary label Doggystyle Records the 6th of July 1995, in order to develop the next DPGC project. So he invited the young fellows from Long Beach, California, to form the LBC Crew. If the group is officially known to have only Bad Azz, Lil' C-Style and Techniec. It is clear that Tray Deee, So. Sentrelle and Soopafly were involved in the beginning. The recordings of the album took place between the 14th of July and the 10th of August, just before Suge payed his first visit to 2Pac in prison. So the LBC Crew album was entirely recorded before Death Row signed and freed him in October.

A superhit with Roger Troutman, one month before "California Love"

"Beware of My Crew" was released the 14th of November 1995 as a single for the soundtrack A Thin Line Between Love & Hate (published in January of 1996), as much as a promo single for their forecoming album. At that time, Dogg Food was freshly released (the 31th of October) and 2Pac had just started to record intensively with Death Row (since the 13th of October). A few days prior this first single, 2Pac recorded his verse for "California Love", another song which contains vocals by Roger Troutman of Zapp... which will be released as a breakout single the 5th of December '95, less than one month after LBC Crew's superhit. From that point of view, maybe LBC Crew helped to the enormous success of the Dre/Pac megahit.
 
"Beware of my Crew" like "California Love" were firstly recorded without Roger Troutman parts (Hurt-M-Badd aka Tyrone Wrice of B-Rezell claims he originally made singing hook for the very first version of "California Love"). Roger Troutman maybe added his parts for the two songs around that time in late summer of '96 ("Beware of My Crew" has 10th of August as a date of recording, could it be the original version ? or the remixed version with Roger Troutman ?). Anyway, Roger Troutman made LBC Crew exploding (because of the success itself) as much as he built the huge success of All Eyez on Me.



 

One of the biggest loss of Death Row's golden age

It is said that Lil C-Style and Snoop argued about royalties, maybe after the release of "Beware of My Crew" single (published by Warner), probably in the beginning of 96. It ended up by Lil' C-Style damaged tapes of the album. Same kind of problems strangely occur in Death Row around that time (with first Mopreme about royalties for his parts in All Eyez on Me. Then Big Syke wanted to record his solo in Death Row but finally left probably because of a disagreement with the label upon the contract. Johnny J seems to have left very disappointed upon his royalties). 
 
That's why, at the same time he started to record songs for his solo album Tha Doggfather, Snoop recorded new songs for a kind of new LBC project that could be called "Tha Eastside Party" (cf. Tha Doggfather sessions), that could as much as a follow up to LBC Crew shelved album and a first project prior to Tha Eastsidaz group in 1999 (with Snoop, Tray Deee & Goldie Loc). "My Heat Goes Boom" is edited circa June of '96, replacing Lil C-Style's part by a 2Pac's verse. The song was planned to be included in Tha Doggfather Original but Snoop changed his plans after 2Pac's death. Maybe Snoop was planning to remake the whole album without Lil' C-Style. A new solo version of "Dippin' My Low-Low" by Techniec was recorded in the fall of 96.

Connection 2Pac / LBC Crew

There are not many common points between LBC Crew and 2Pac, beside of the superb featuring of Bad Azz on "Krazy" in Makaveli, The 7th Day Theory. Bad Azz also made the original hook of "Only Move 4 The Money" aka "Three Wordz" (originally a Pac/Snoop duet). He recently explained how he insisted to record a little something for the song when Snoop didn't want him to, and finally convinced everybody with his hook (maybe recorded in April-May of '96 for Gridlock'd/Gang Related original soundtracks). This is probably after that 2Pac shot out the LBC Crew in "Last Onez Left" (cf. Troublesome, Tha Secretz of War) and planned to have them as guests in One Nation. So in the end of May, 2Pac recorded a verse for the remix of "Out The Moon" to replace Lil' C-Style (initially aimed for Tha Doggfather Original, ended up in Gridlock'd soundtrack in 1997) and Bad Azz is featured in the unreleased "Untouchablez" (cf. One Nation, Part 2) with Snoop, Kadafi and Edi. The two songs are produced by LT Hutton, clearly the home producer of the LBC Crew, who also produced some posthumous remixes like "Let Em Have It", "Pac's Life" and "Don't Stop").

Daz of course produced many songs for 2Pac. But the main producer of the group, DJ Pooh, also produced a few songs for 2Pac : unleaked "Ghost" in 92-93 (cf. Ghetto Gospel), "When We Ride" (cf. All Eyez on Me), "St. Ides Commercial" freestyles in 93 and then with Snoop in the end of 95 or beginning of 96. Like 2Pac, LBC Crew of course recorded with the Dogg Pound Gangsta Crew : Snoop, Kurupt, Daz, Warreng G, Nate Dogg, Big Pimpin'... (2Pac was also recording with Warren G for his first original Thug Life album), and regular friends like Deadly Threat. They also recorded "Verbal Shots" with O.F.T.B. The song sounds very similar to the rest of LBC album and could have been recorded around the time O.F.T.B. came to record with 2Pac ("The Struggle Continues", in October of 95) or later in March of '96 when they recorded "Better Dayz" with Syke and "World Wide" with Kurupt and 2Pac. Like the LBC Crew, O.F.T.B. is another group who failed to release their album on Death Row (cf. I Come Up Hard).