Snoop Dogg – Who Am I (The S-N-double O-P)
Well, he’s one of the legends, not only in the West but all over America. Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Broadus, got fame with the track “Nuthin’ But a G Thang” on Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic”, released his first record “Doggystyle” which sold about 4 million copies, then brought out “Tha Doggfather”, both released on Snoop’s fomer label, Death Row Records. Snoop then jumped off Death Row Records, but because of a long-time deal with head label Priority Records, he couldn’t start off with his own label and instead had to sign with Master P’s No Limit, another label on Priority. On No Limit, he released his last two records, “Da Game Is 2 Be Sold, Not To Be Told” and “No Limit Top Dogg”. But in the meanwhile, Snoop invested a lot of time in his own record label called Doggystyle Records, and his next projects will come out on Doggystyle. So, this record here, it’s Snoop’s last record on No Limit, it’s “Tha Last Meal”. And even though people often were a bit disappointed by Snoop’s raps in the last two years, one was always keen on that one. And it satisfies overall…

First of all, we start with a funny Intro, some b’s singing the hook “Snoop, Snoop, Snoop…” and the D-O-double G talking. “Hennesey N Buddah” feat. Kokane gives us the good old West Coast flavor we missed so much: Produced by Dr. Dre, this track shows us what it all should be about, burner number one! Then we come to the record’s first single, Timbaland’s “Snoop Dogg” (What’s My Name Pt. 2). Cool lyrics but too clu bbish in my eyes. “True Lies” features Snoop asking Bill Clinton “Did you fuck that b**** or not?” and Bill answering a lot but pretty nothing in the intro. Smooth stuff. “Go Away” feat. Kokane, another great number on this record. “Set It Off” feat. MC Ren, The Lady Of Rage, Nate Dogg & hip hop veteran Ice Cube reminds us of “L.A. Niggaz” on Dre’s “Chronic 2001”: a slow Timbaland-beat that makes heads nod. But the record has also got its weak points: “Stacey Adams” is slow and soft, too soft in my eyes, even though the lyrical content needs that type of beat. And as we all know, Dre is the West Coast’s god of producers, and he also does well on this one. However, “Lay Low” feat. Master P, Nate Dogg, Butch Cassidy, Goldie Loc & Tray Dee features almost too many MCs which makes the whole track not as tight as it would have been if there were less MCs – the beat is awesome, not a classic but cool anyway. Next thing we have to mention is “Issues” produced by Meech Wells that is a rough, short track and Snoop g-funkin’ and playin’ as he did in the good old days. “Ready 2 Ryde” features an excellent Eve that probably tops Snoop’s lyrics on this track. The rest isn’t worth it to be mentioned, not bad but not really that type of stuff we love.

In my eyes, Snoop did a good album, an album that satisfies and shows us that he’s still the top dogg in the game. Unfortunately, he’s not able to keep the level that high for a whole record: Even though there is something cool for everyone, the album has still got its weaknesses where Snoop reminds us of his later and latest stuff. I can’t imagine how a Snoop-record only produced by Dr. Dre would sound – the classic shiznit! However, this is awesome, not legendary, but the D-O-double G is not dead at all, that’s fo’ sho’. (Emm)