to his presence in the music industry. They also stated that "The album has a few obligatory mentions of sexual exploits and gun-toting, usually delegated to guest rappers. But most of the raps are about his position as a hit-maker. He still has one of the most distinctive deliveries in rap: a casual, nasal, conversational tone that sounds leisurely even when he's barreling forward. His producers are a little less slick than Dr. Dre was, but they have supplied swampy bass riffs and catchy backup choruses, drawing heavily (like Dr. Dre) on George Clinton's P-Funk. Snoop Doggy Dogg insists, and Tha Doggfather does that, maintaining a party atmosphere. Yet while it insists that gangsta rap isn't dead, it plays down tough-guy tales in favor of a star's pronouncements." AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that the album runs on too long at over 70 minutes and "Though it works the same G-funk territory, the bass is less elastic and there is considerably less sonic detail". But also praised the album by stating "Though the music isn't original, and the lyrics break no new territory, the execution is strong -- Snoop's rapping and rhyming continue to improve, while the bass-heavy funk is often intoxicating." He ended the review stating "...the album is a fine follow-up to one of the most successful hip-hop albums in history." Commercial reception Before the release of the album, many were questioning if the album would become lost in the turmoil and tragedy of the label, or even to be bypassed in the rush of Tupac Shakur's posthumous album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. However, retailers thought differently, such as Violet Brown, urban music buyer for the Wherehouse music chain. "Customer anticipation has been huge. As soon as record executives found out they were opening against Snoop [this week], they shifted the release dates of some rival rap albums to avoid the Snoop sales rush." The album debuted at number one with strong first week sales of 479,000 copies, with Shakur at number two with second week sales of 250,000 (proving that Death Row still had a strong hold on the pop charts). While falling short of Doggystyle's 803,000 in the first week sold (the record at the time for a rap album), the album still was the third-highest rap debut of that year behind Shakur's All Eyez on Me (566,000 first-week copies) and Killuminati