Songfacts®:

• In this song, Snoop and Dr. Dre (who produced the track), fondly express the pleasures of attending parties where gin and juice is served. They believe this concoction lends a degree of excitement and hedonism to the proceedings, and that bringing a bottle of good gin to the party warrants a degree of respect, making that individual worthy of much admiration.
• Apparently, gin and juice (also known as a "paradise cocktail") goes well with a particularly potent form of marijuana called "Indo," which is mentioned in the chorus. The clean version has the word edited out.
• The chorus is based on the song "Watching You" by the R&B group Slave, and the bassline is sampled from "I Get Lifted" by George McRae. "Watching You" goes:
  
  Walking down the street watching ladies
  Go by watching you
  
  Which became:
  
  Rollin' down the street, smokin indo
  Sippin on gin and juice
• "Gin And Juice" was Snoop Dogg's second single, but he was already well established thanks to his features on several tracks from Dr. Dre's album The Chronic, which dropped in December 1992. His debut album, Doggystyle, was issued in November 1993 with "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)" the lead single. By this time, Snoop was out on bail for murder, a case that wasn't resolved until 1996 when he was found innocent.
• On Pandora, Snoop talked about the origin of this song: "Gin and juice was the choice of drink for a young playa. 1991, 1992, you didn't really have a lot of money, you go get that gin. When it came time to make the record, Doggystyle, that was my thing: Every day I would come to the studio with my bottle of gin and juice in it, and Dre would have a big-ass milk jug full of gin and juice. We were in the studio one day and someone was singing that Slave song, 'Watching You.' We flipped it into 'Rollin' down the street, smokin indo, sippin' on gin and juice,' and made it happen from there.
• Snoop's gin and juice recipe was Tanqueray gin mixed with a fruit drink called Super Socco. He later switched to Donald Duck brand orange juice. He and his friends would mix them in the Donald Duck bottles so it would look like they were just drinking orange juice.
• In the music video, Snoop's parents leave him home alone (or "homeboy alone" as it's fonted), so he gathers the crew for a massive house party. There are plenty of low riders in the video, a throwback to the video he did with Dr. Dre for "Let Me Ride." Eddie Griffin, Bow Wow, Nate Dogg and Warren G. all make appearances.
• The country/bluegrass band The Gourds covered this in 1998. They were on the leading edge of a trend: folk and bluegrass bands covering rap songs. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France
• With all his marketing initiatives, it seemed inevitable that Snoop Dogg would release his own brand of gin and juice, and indeed, in 2024 he teamed with Dr. Dre for a line of ready-to-drink canned cocktails, called Gin & Juice, available in passion fruit, apricot, citrus and melon.
• Gin & Juice is the name of a Polish dressage horse that competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics. We know this because Snoop Dogg was providing commentary for the event alongside his friend Martha Stewart. Snoop got very excited and did a freestyle: "From the front to the back... it's kinda hard being the H-O-R-S-E."
• Snoop has performed the clean version in concert ever since he dropped the misogyny to gain more widespread appeal - you can't shill for Tostitos while calling women "bitches." Thus, we get:
  
  "I got some freaks in the living room gettin' it on"
  and
  "Dre got some tricks from the city of Compton"
  
  The turning point for Snoop was his 2003 single "Beautiful," a 2003 collaboration with Pharrell Williams where he celebrates women.