Previously a Dawg?

Recently, during E-40 Week, I talked about how E-40's debut album featured a sing "Tanji II" which begged the question, where was there a "Tanji" part 1 (click here for the answer)? Well, here's a similar mystery I had even a couple years earlier... AMG's debut album was called Bitch Betta Have My Money on Select Records in 1991. And on that album was a song called, "Once a Dawg (Janine 2)." Now I was (and still am) a fan of that early DJ Quik scene... so I caught on pretty quick that the precursor to a song from that camp didn't have to necessarily be on an album by the same group. For example, "Niggaz Still Trippin'" on Quik's album Way 2 Fonky is a sequel to "Niggaz Trippin'," which did not appear on Quik's previous album debut, Quik Is the Name. Instead, it was on 2nd II None's self-titled album. But I had every album the whole crew put out, and there wasn't a "Janine" between them.

It wasn't until years later, thanks to the internet, that I found out where the original was hiding out. It's an exclusive B-side to AMG's "Bitch Betta Have My Money." Now, it had of course occurred to be that "Janine" might be the B-side to another single, but the "Bitch Betta Have My Money" wasn't such a widespread single. "Jiggable Pie" (which, in fact, features "Once a Dawg" as its B-side) was the big debut that they had the video for and everything, then there was "Vertical Joyride" and finally, in 1992, "Bitch Betta Have My Money" was later paired with "I Wanna Be Yo Ho." So that was the "Bitch Betta Have My Money" single that I and most of America knew; I had no idea it was actually released as a single twice... and it was this earlier, less widely-distributed version that featured "Janine."

If you've never heard "Janine," it's a fun song... assuming you're not put off by AMG's usual, vulgar misogyny, of course. You'll recognize the instrumental, because it actually does appear on the album, used as the background to "When She Calls," the skit that introduces "Once a Dawg (Janine 2)." But while "Once a Dawg" then switches the beat and goes into the "Microphone Fiend" music, this one uses that crazy flute loop and echoing drums for the whole music. The memorable, screamy hook is pretty much the same for both songs, but it's all new verses about AMG's girlfriend and her affinity for giving head, "lickin' my dick is a specialty to my girl Janine, oh what a dick fiend! She likes to suck and suck but no stickin'." Like everything else AMG put out at the time, it's self-produced, with Quik and Courtney Branch and Tracy Kendrick listed as additional co-producers.

This first "Bitch Betta Have My Money" 12" also includes the album "The Booty Up," which features Quik and 2nd II None cheerfully singing the hook over the "Double Dutch Bus" break, and instrumentals for "Bitch" and "Booty." It comes in a picture cover, so you can have the song title printed in nice, big letters and everyone in the record store can judge you and the issues you surely must have with women. And even though it wasn't promoted as heavily as his subsequent singles, it's still a Select Records release, so it's not at all rare or hard to find these days.