Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss

Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss (stylized as Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$) is the sixth studio album by American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on November 26, 2002, by his Doggystyle label, alongside Priority and Capitol Records. Following his departure from the No Limit Records, he later signed a recording contract to Capitol through Priority Records. The album was supported by two singles, both featuring Pharrell: "From tha Chuuuch to da Palace" and "Beautiful", the latter also featuring Charlie Wilson.

The album debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200, selling 174,000 copies in its first week, and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). To date, it has sold over 1,500,000 copies worldwide.

Music
This album marked the beginning of Snoop's long-lasting association with Pharrell and The Neptunes. The album's lead single "From tha Chuuuch to da Palace", produced by The Neptunes and featuring an uncredited guest appearance from Pharrell, was released on October 15, 2002. The song's music video was directed by Diane Martel, under the alias Bucky Chrome.

The album's second single, "Beautiful" featuring Pharrell and Charlie Wilson, also produced by The Neptunes, was released on January 28, 2003. The music video for "Beautiful", which featured Pharrell but omitted Charlie Wilson, was directed by Chris Robinson in Brazil, which helped the single to become a hit on the Billboard charts. In a retrospective critique on the song, Pharrell would later admit he didn't think the song would be a hit. "[Snoop] really loved ‘Beautiful.’ I didn’t get ‘Beautiful,’ mainly because I was singing on there flat as fuck and I just didn’t hear it. I thought it was a fun record. And then we put Charlie Wilson on it and I was like man Charlie sounding amazing on this, and this feels good to me, but no one is ever going to go for this."

Release
It was announced to be re-packaged for the album, with six of these pre-released versions of different album covers, but only several tracks were not to be included on each. Snoop's also contains two-disc's DVD, called Boss Playa: A Day in the Life of Bigg Snoop Dogg; including the first disc featuring three music videos for "Boss Playa", "Pimp Slapp'd" (where both of them, were directed by Pook Brown), and "That's the Shit"; the second disc is a DVD, named "Doggystyle Porn", which features the song, titled "You Like Doin It Too". However, these tracks were later featured in an unreleased project version of the album.

Critical reception

 * Rolling Stone - 3 stars out of 5 - "Snoop stretches his silky flow over tracks by underground ace Hi-Tek and the unstoppable Neptunes."
 * Spin - 8 out of 10 - "The most spirited pop record of his career....Paid Tha Cost is Snoop unleashed."
 * Entertainment Weekly - "Snoop is reborn, a gangsta rap granddaddy in recline." - Rating: A−
 * Uncut - 3 stars out of 5 - "He treads a line between loving monogamy and club bangers, emphasizing accessibility throughout."
 * Vibe - 3.5 out of 5 - "His wordplay is still as nimble and quick as ever, giving the beats a beat down with newfound urgency."

Commercial performance
Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200, selling 174,000 copies in its first week. In November 2004, the album sales, where it has sold 1,210,000 copies in the United States.

Controversy
On March 24, 2003, a lawsuit was filed against Snoop Dogg by a man who claimed that his life was endangered after the rapper had included a 50-second phone message featuring the plaintiff's voice on the album's last track, "Pimp Slapp'd", a diss track directed at then-Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight. The man, identified only as John Doe for security reasons, had left the voice message for Snoop Dogg in October 2002, unaware of the intention of its inclusion on the album. John Doe, who was identified on the answering machine as "Jim Bob", insisted the album be recalled and cancelled for distribution in its current form, and stated in court papers that he had been threatened verbally several times and feared for his and his mother's lives due to Knight's close proximity, as both he and Knight resided in Compton, California, at the time.

On February 3, 2004, the lawsuit was dismissed for common law appropriation of voice and intentional infliction of emotional distress, under the ruling that privacy cannot be maintained while leaving a message on another's recording device.

Track listing
Sample credits
 * "Da Bo$$ Would Like to See You" samples "It's My House" performed by Diana Ross.
 * "Stoplight" samples "Flash Light" performed by Parliament.
 * "From tha Chuuuch to da Palace" samples "Buffalo Gals" performed by Malcolm McLaren.
 * "Ballin'" samples "Fell for You" performed by The Dramatics.
 * "Paper'd Up" samples "Paid in Full" performed by Eric B. & Rakim, and "Don't Look Any Further" performed by Dennis Edwards.
 * "Wasn't Your Fault" samples "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" performed by Cherrelle.
 * "Bo$$ Playa" samples "Riding High" performed by Faze-O.
 * "Hourglass" samples "I Just Want to Be" performed by Cameo.
 * "The One and Only" samples "It's You, It's You" performed by Tyrone Davis.
 * "I Miss That Bitch" samples "I'm Your Mechanical Man" performed by Jerry Butler.
 * "From Long Beach 2 Brick City" samples "Wikka Wrap" performed by The Evasions.
 * "Batman & Robin" samples "Batman" performed by TeeVee Toons, Inc.
 * "Pimp Slapp'd" samples "Rapper's Delight" performed by Sugarhill Gang, "Tonite" performed by DJ Quik, "Flash Light" performed by Parliament, and "Streets is Watching" performed by Jay-Z.

Personnel
Credits adapted from Allmusic.


 * Dave Aron - engineer, mixing
 * B-Real - congas
 * DJ Battlecat - producer
 * Daniel Betancourt - assistant
 * Joe Ceballos - coloring
 * Keith Clark - producer
 * Andrew Coleman - engineer
 * Snoopy Collins - background vocals
 * Hi-Tek - producer
 * DJ Premier - producer
 * Nate Dogg - vocals
 * The Dramatics - vocals
 * E-Swift - producer
 * Shy Felder - background vocals, vocals
 * Warren G - vocals
 * Brian Gardner - mastering
 * Goldie Loc - vocals
 * Mamie Gunn - background vocals
 * Robin Hill - sample clearance
 * Brian Horton - flute
 * Chad Hugo - instrumentation
 * Richard Huredia - mixing
 * L.T. Hutton - producer
 * Jay-Z - vocals
 * Jelly Roll - background vocals, mixing, producer
 * Eric Johnson - bass
 * Just Blaze - producer
 * Ronnie King - hammond organ


 * The Lady of Rage - vocals
 * Josef Leimberg - producer
 * Ken Lewis - mixing
 * Lil' ½ Dead - vocals
 * Quazedelic - background vocals
 * Ludacris - vocals
 * Anthony Mandler - photography
 * Kokane - vocals
 * Fredwreck - fender rhodes, flute, mixing, moog synthesizer, producer, sequencing
 * Traci Nelson - background vocals, vocals
 * The Neptunes - producer
 * James Rainey - sample clearance
 * RBX - vocals
 * Redman - vocals
 * Eric Roinestad - art direction
 * Eddie Sancho - mixing
 * Chris Sholar - guitar
 * Snoop Dogg - primary artist, sequencing
 * Soopafly - vocals
 * Nancie Stern - sample clearance
 * Dexter Thibou - assistant engineer
 * Patrick Viala - mixing
 * Meech Wells - producer
 * LaToiya Williams - vocals
 * Marlon Williams - guitar
 * Pharrell Williams - instrumentation, vocals
 * Charlie Wilson - vocals
 * Christian Olde Wolbers - bass
 * The Redd Brothers (Dwayne & Daniel) - mixing