Album Review- Snoop Dogg- The Doggumentary

Snoop Dogg is a hip-hop icon and the biggest G to be accepted into every white person's home in America, C-walking and shilling Pepsi Max all the while still rocking a perm and Chuck Taylors. Snoop is back with his 11th album in what is now almost a two decades old mainstream rap career in 2011 trying to be the first household name to make a dent in an anemic 2011 for records.





Fact of the matter is, this is a back to the basics, West Coast classic flavored album. There are features on almost every track, which is something Snoop often does, whether it just be hooks from newcomers, to funk legends like Bootsy Collins, Snoop doesn't do it alone, after all, "It's no fun if the Homies can't have none". The lead single released a couple months ago, was "Wet" which is a pseudo rap and b auto tune flavored track that Snoop does effortly though it isn't terribly original. "Raised in the Hood" is more generic rap about Snoop's life about 25 years ago before he rocketed to fame. "Its D Only Thang" produced by David Banner is about being on top and the alpha dog of the pack in the game. "The Way it Used to Be" has Snoop reminiscing over simpler times.

Kanye West and John Legend are featured on "Eyez Closed" which doesn't really have a topic. "Superman" is one of those collaborations that only Snoop can have, as he and Willie Nelson sing over a simple guitar riff. More traditional is "My Fucn House" with Young Jeezy and e-40, over an energetic Southern type track. Devin the Dude brings his unique flavor to the mundane "I don't need no Bitch" which also features Kobe Honeycutt. "The Weed iz Mine" features Wiz Khalifa, like we didn't see that coming, as they go over an 80's funk/r and b track and rhythm.



"Boom" featuring T-pain sounds like a song left over from an old episode of Miami Vice. Euro-pop-hop group Gorillaz is featured on "Sumthin Like This Night" where Snoop fails to deliver a song that should have made the album. Then there is "Platinum" which features R. Kelly on his best/worst arrogant rapping/singing. The positive is Snoop gets to flex a little bit over the track. "Toyz in the Hood" with Bootsy Collins is another old funk track that could have come off of any Snoop album ever. He is also on "We Rest in Cali" that also includes Goldie Loc painting the well-known picture of Cali. "Gangbang Rookie" features Pilot and is about how certified he and the Doggfather are.


There are a few songs that i haven't gone into detail about but they are all the same. It's too much straight West Coast rapping with nothing that really glues any of the songs together. It's too much to say that Snoop has lost the skills, but he doesn't really have any direction right now and it has felt that way for the past few albums, reach out there, drop a couple of singles and whatever else is completed fills out the album. Unfortunately, though he is still using funk the sounds surrounding the samples aren't updated which is the biggest thing that Snoop needs. While his staples about "bitches and weed" are to be expected, there isn't that one or two moments that really take you back to when he first blew up.


Rating: 2/5

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