Snoop Dogg: Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Boss : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Calvin Broadus is a proud child of the Seventies, born and bred on P-Funk before he filled his trunk with G-Funk. Paid Tha Cost to Be Da Bo$$ pays plenty of tribute to his roots: The pimp-chateau jam "Ballin' " features the Seventies soul group the Dramatics, and the disco blitz of "Stoplight" is another reinterpolation of Parliament's "Flashlight." Back in this decade, Snoop stretches his silky flow over tracks by underground ace Hi-Tek and the unstoppable Neptunes. "I Believe in U," featuring gifted singer Latoiya Williams, is Snoop's first love song. Hi-Tek's candlelight production captures both artists' vocal strengths in a nostalgic glow, including Snoop's most excellent croon, "We got to be together forever and a diz-ay." "Pimp Slapp'd," his ode to Death Row's Suge Knight, makes it exceedingly clear how he feels on an entirely different subject: "Suge Knight's a bitch/And that's on my life." Snoop Dogg remains one of the best-loved personas in hip-hop for good reason. At once fly, fierce and skilled, he's a purebred off the leash.