Snoop Dogg is a Long Beach, California icon that really doesn’t need a proper introduction at this point. We all should know by now that he solidified himself as such with his heavy contributions to his mentor Dr. Dre’s seminal 1992 solo debut The Chronic along with his own equally groundbreaking debut album Doggystyle the following year. Then came the infamous murder charges Snoop faced in the mid-90s, of which he was later acquitted of. He would then come back with his sophomore album Tha Doggfather, but would leave Death Row Records not too long after it came out & would go on to release a trilogy of albums with No Limit Records. My personal favorite of them being Tha Last Meal. When his time with the tank came to an end, Snoop would form his own label Doggystyle Records & would go hopping to one major distributor after another to release 11 more albums. This includes an album under a joint venture with Priority Records/Capitol Records, a trilogy with Geffen Records (the first of which being in association with Star Trak Entertainment), 2 albums with just Priority themselves, a reggae album with his wife’s imprint Boss Lady Entertainment in conjunction with Mad Decent/VICE Music/RCA Records in 2013 & a synth-funk album with i am OTHER Entertainment/Columbia Records in 2015 produced by longtime collaborators The Neptunes. However since 2017, he’s mostly been rebuilding his Doggystyle label with the independent powerhouse EMPIRE Distribution backing him up with the exception of a gospel album being released by RCA last March. And with the recent addition to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Uncle Snoop is celebrating with his 17th full-length album.
It all starts with “What U Talkin’ Bout?”, where Snoop speaks on doing things his way over an electro-influenced beat. The next song “So Misinformed” gets conscious over a laidback beat from Battlecat while the track “Let Bygones Be Bygones” recalls his Death Row days over a g-funk beat. The song “1 Blood, 1 Cuzz” pays tribute to the late Nipsey Hu$$le over yet another Battlecat instrumental that recaptures Snoop’s g-funk roots while the track “Countdown” gets on his Crip shit over a Swizz Beatz instrumental with a prominent Ohio Players sample.
The song “I C Your Bullshit” speaks for itself over a trunk-rattling beat while the track “Turn Me On” with Chris Brown is sappy lust tune with a bouncy Jazze Pha beat. The song “Blue Face Hunnids” talks about gangbanging over a nocturnal DJ Mustard beat while the track “New Booty” spitting game to new Crips over a smooth beat.
The song “Take Me Away” with Wiz Khalifa is of course a weed anthem as Russ provides a generic beat & an annoying hook while the track “Do It When I’m In It” with Ozuna & Slim Jxmmi sees the 3 getting raunchy over a Latin-influenced beat. The song “1st Place” gets victorious over a spacious beat from DJ Green Lantern while the track “Focused” talks about being just that over a luscious beat sampling H.E.R.’s “Focus”.
The song “Rise to the Top” with Swizz Beatz & Trey Songz sees the 3 talking about maintaining successful over a mellow instrumental while the track “Wintertime in June” with Nate Dogg sees the 2 talking about past relationships over a colorful instrumental from Fredwreck. After the “Doo Wop Thank Me” interlude, the song “Main Phone” with Rick Rock sees the 2 talking about money over a hyphy beat.
The track “Do You Like I Do” with Lil Duval is a weird attempt at reviving new jack swing while the song “I’ve Been Looking For You” is a soothing synth-funk cut. The track “Little Square UBitchU” with Anitta disses an unnamed punk over a Middle Eastern influenced beat. The penultimate track “Ventilation” with Azjah & $tupid Young is essentially the musical equivalent of Steve Buscemi dressing up as a teenager on 30 Rock & then title track at finishes the project reflects on his his accomplishments over yet another g-funk beat from Battlecat.
As a whole, this was decent. I like how Snoop tried to be eclectic on this one, but it didn’t need to be 75 minutes long & there are slightly more hits than there are misses on here.
Score: 3/5
Legends Will Never Die 