Madd Dogg

edit

Character

Madd Dogg
{{{caption}}}
Appearances	GTA San Andreas
Full Name	Madd Dogg
Status	Alive
Place of Birth	Los Santos
Nationality	American
Home	Los Santos, San Andreas
Main Affiliations	Carl Johnson Ken Rosenberg Maccer Kent Paul Rochell'le (Ex-Girlfriend)
Businesses	Rap Artist (1980s - 1994) Doggy Boyz (Rap Group) (1988 - 1992)
Voiced by	Ice-T
ADVERTISEMENT

Madd Dogg is a character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and is a rich and famous gangsta rapper from Los Santos. He is based on and voiced by Ice-T, and also based on Dr. Dre and Ice Cube of N.W.A., whose music makes up over half the Radio Los Santos soundtrack. The name "Dogg" is derived from Snoop Dogg and/or Nate Dogg. He was romantically involved with female rapper and R&B musician, Rochell'le.

Career

Breakthrough (1988-1991)

Forgotten Legends explains that Madd Dogg first gained extreme popularity as a rapper, without any full albums, in the late 1980s. He quickly earned enough money to buy his trademark mansion, pictured on his first two albums. The home resembles the "Hammertime" mansion in Fremont, California once owned by MC Hammer, as well as styling cues from homes owned by Ice-T.

Over 1990 he released Hustlin' Like Gangstaz, a parody of Above The Law's Livin Like Hustlers, produced by Dr. Dre with a song featured on Radio Los Santos, and Still Madd, a parody of Ice-T's OG: Original Gangster, complete with a song "2:30 in the Afternoon" to parody "6 in the Morning".

Before or during 1990, he also began a relationship with Rochell'le, a bubbly, innocent female singer and labelmate on Jimmy Silverman's Blastin' Fools Records. A rumor exists that he was her ghostwriter for some of the more rap-oriented songs she released.

Mainstream status and downfall (1991-1992)

He had an album, 24 Carat Dogg, released in 1991. The name might suggest that he had moved on from violent music to more radio-friendly songs in which he bragged about his lifestyle, like many rappers, but in 1992 it seems that he still has plenty of street credibility.

At the beginning of GTA San Andreas, Madd Dogg was very popular and exploring merchandise such as a clothing label "Madd Tagg" - later in the game, the player can buy one of the shirts for $36 at Victim. In real life, Russell Simmons was the first person in hip-hop to have his own clothing line in 1992, called Phat Farm.

Madd Dogg began to sink into a depression after his rhyme book went missing and his manager was killed, all of which were secret efforts by protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson, ironically his future manager, to jumpstart the music career of amateur rival Jeffrey "OG Loc" Cross. Outside of these attacks, he also struggled with "alcoholism and egomania" as told by Lianne Forget, drug abuse, massive financial debt, as well as breakups with Rochell'le and his rap group "Doggy Boyz".

Comeback and retirement (1992-1994)

Later that year, he was forced to gamble away his mansion to Big Poppa, a Los Santos Vagos drug lord, and was supposed to give a concert in Las Venturas before he went missing. When Carl finds him, he had a room at the Royale Casino, and after he had gotten drunk and gambled away his fortune, threatens suicide before Carl saved him and sent him to rehab. Madd Dogg then hires Carl as his new manager, unaware that Carl ruined his career in the first place and rescued him out of guilt.

As manager, Carl begins building up Madd Dogg's career by first taking back his mansion and directs Madd Dogg to record a new album, also taking back the original rhyme book from Loc. At the end of the game in early 1993, Forty Dogg is released and quickly goes gold; it is a parody of Dogg Food by Tha Dogg Pound, a group made famous by Snoop Dogg. It is described as his well-received return to hardcore gangsta rap. It includes the following songs:

• "Madd Funk"
• "Me and My Blunt"
• "4 My Doggz"
• "Alone with My Dogz"
• "Doggz Need Luv"
• "Madd N A Haze"
• "Funkin' Forties"

In 1994, he released "the less-than-stellar" N.L.A.D.B. (Never Leave A Dog Behind), which would become his last album and direct him to retire. As of 1998 and 2003, his albums Still Madd and Forty Dogg were digitally remastered.

Mission appearences

GTA San Andreas

• Madd Dogg (Boss)
• A Home in the Hills (Boss, Pseudo-Boss, Co-Boss)
• Vertical Bird
• Cut Throat Business (Boss)
• Riot
• End of the Line

Trivia

• Despite him saying he gets his first gold record at the end of the game you can see gold records all over his mansion. He may be referencing the first gold record that the 'team' got together, though this is unknown. It also seems highly unlikely that he'd never had a gold record if he lives in such a large, expensive mansion.
• Sometimes pedestrians in GTA San Andreas can possibly be heard saying 'You Madd Dogging me man'
• His name may be based on a combination of Snoop Dogg and Mad Doc (The previous name of another branch of Rockstar "Rockstar New England")
• His name may also be a reference to the 20th Century Irish mob hitman Vincent Coll, who was nicknamed "Mad Dog". The two share very little, if anything, in common, though.

See also

• Celebrities

Album Gallery

• 

  Hustlin' Like Gangstaz

• 

  Still Madd

• 

  24 Carat Dogg

• 

  Forty Dogg

• 

  Madd Dogg CD cover in The Ballad of Gay Tony Still Madd