Deep Cover (song)
"Deep Cover" | |
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Song |
"Deep Cover", also known as "187", is a 1992 single by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg for the soundtrack of the film Deep Cover. The album peaked The Billboard 200 at the 166th spot on July 25, 1992. Apart from the soundtrack compilation, it also appeared as a single and on Dr. Dre's First Round Knock Out in 1996 - which spent 2 weeks (1 week up-1 week down) on the Billboard 200 album chart starting at the 52nd place - and later on several greatest hits albums including Doggy Stuff and Doggy Style Hits.
Like the artist indication on the original 12 inch vinyl says, Dr. Dre introducing Snoop Doggy Dogg, it is the first time Snoop Dogg was featured on a record. As a single it had no major breakthrough regarding the sales but it launched Snoop's career. It samples a number of 70s - 80s Funk acts such as Undisputed Truth's "(I Know) I'm Losing You" and Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" (which provided the drumbeat).
The film did not have much success (it only received 2 nominations on the Independent Spirits Awards in 1993), but the song itself is held in esteem by many fans and critics.
This song was also in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, in the radio station Radio Los Santos.
Music video
The short-story of this low-budget video is almost identical as the self-same titled movie starring Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum, namely an undercover cop goes deep in the hierarchic pyramid of the underground mafia to get the bosses locked up, and "goes deep" also by getting addicted to drugs while trying to not reveal himself. The video begins in the first scene with Snoop (Snoop's first appearance in a music video), Dre and a black kingpin in a smoky office in the middle of an initiation where Snoop has to decide between the pipe and being caught up. After that introduction the music starts but the rest of the video is rather cut-to-cut and is a mixture of some five seconds long takes in black and white and some pictures from the motion picture. The scenes take place in a filthy concrete bungalow with a lot of crackheads and a projector flashing the movie itself on the wall. The house is later raided by the drug squad. There's also a scene with Snoop and Dre wearing business suits in a car, but it has no additional meaning to the plot.
Remixes
- There's a previous version of the song entitled One Eight Seven (later known as Deep Cover Remix from the Fuck Wit Dre Day 12-inch EP, the 1995 album One Million Strong and the Death Row compilation Dr. Dre Chronicles: Deathrow Classics) which has the same sample but with alternate lyrics and is a minute shorter (3:20). The title, which is also a part of the chorus refers to the police code, which stands for Murder in the US state of California.
- There's a remix by Big Pun, featuring Fat Joe, called "Twinz" (Deep Cover '98), from his album Capital Punishment (album), with the same music, but mostly different lyrics, which is now on the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, on the fictional rap radio station The Liberty Jam.