Tha Blue Carpet Treatment : Snoop Dogg : Review : Rolling Stone

Snoop Dogg may be a rap Hall of Famer, but he's been coasting for years. His last two albums presented a familiar figure: an entertainer with friendly nizzle-fizzle pimp persona and not much to say. Those records had enough hot beats and honeyed flows to make them sound great in an SUV or blasting from a dorm room. But with a load of gangsta retreads, lame love songs and duff rhymes -- "I don't know if you've been told/But you look like you should be gold" -- they also felt a little tired.

Snoop's eighth LP doesn't do much to break the trend. The production is pretty hot, with high-def beats that range from tricked-out funk (Dr. Dre's "Boss's Life") to dark, tense bounce (the excellent Neptunes-produced "Vato"). The radio-friendly ups -- the R. Kelly feature "That's That Shit" -- balance out brawny head-nodders like "Gangbangn 101." Snoop sounds great dropping streams of consonants on "Think About It," and few rappers could make a minimalist "Drop It Like It's Hot"-style cut like "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)" sound so singular.

But much of the time, Snoop's on autopilot. He can command thick details about kids trapped in gangbanging and the rap game, but he's still short on imagination, and he's still pretending to live the life on lame gangsta anthems like "10 Lil' Crips": "It's all similar to gettin' laid/On your back when the motherfuckin' K sprays." "A Bitch I Knew" is Snoop at his uncleverest: "We fucked in a car, behind a bar/I shot in her face and it went far." Maybe it's the weed, maybe he's too busy cooking up more Doggy Fizzle Televizzle. But Snoop needs to follow his own advice: Step yo' game up.

CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Nov 27, 2006)

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Track List

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Intrology (featuring George Clinton) (track not available in Rhapsody)
Think About It (track not available in Rhapsody)
Crazy (featuring Nate Dogg)
Vato (featuring B Real)
That's That Sh*t (featuring R. Kelly) (track not available in Rhapsody)
Candy (Drippin' Like Water) (featuring E-40, MC Eiht, Goldie Loc, Daz and Kurupt) (track not available in Rhapsody)
Get A Light (featuring Damian Marley)
G*ngb*ngin' 101 (featuring the Game)
Boss' Life (featuring Akon) (track not available in Rhapsody)
LAX (featuring Ice Cube) (track not available in Rhapsody)
10 Lil' Crips
Round Here (track not available in Rhapsody)
A Bitch I Knew
Like This (featuring Damani, Soopafly, Bad Lucc, Latoiya Williams and Raul Mido'n) (track not available in Rhapsody)
Which One Of You (featuring Nine Inch Dick)
I Wanna F*ck You (featuring Akon) (track not available in Rhapsody)
Psst! (featuring Jamie Foxx)
Beat Up On Yo Pads
Don't Stop (featuring Goldie Loc, MC Eiht, Kam and Kurupt)
Imagine (featuring Dr. Dre and D'Angelo)
Conversations (featuring Stevie Wonder) (track not available in Rhapsody)