Six years later, Snoop Dogg brings back the blue on the cover for his eighth album, the whole project pays homage to the Crips, the music videos of the singles are permeated by blue everywhere. Production is performed by Dr. Dre, DJ Battlecat, DJ Pooh, Fredewreck, Jamie Foxx, Mr. Porter, Rick Rock, Nottz, The Neptunes, Timbaland, Stevie Wonder, Akon and Frequency, among others. Guests are Nate Dogg, George Clinton, B-Real, R. Kelly, Kurupt, Daz, Goldie Loc, MC Eiht, E-40, Damian Marley, The Game, Akon, Ice Cube, LaToiya Williams, Western Union, Nine Inch Dix, Jamie Foxx, War Zone, Stevie Wonder, D'Angelo and Dr. Dre.
Lyrically, Snoop returns to tackle gangster themes and his lyrics are neither original nor robust on their own, while the music for once seems infallible: there's a competent choice of samples, the drums are fresh and youthful and the rhythms chosen by the producers are excellent, extraordinary. The first three songs after the intro are practically flawless, Frequency, Fredwreck and even The Neptunes create melodic and accessible soundscapes on which the rapper delivers with an energetic, inspired, fluid, dope style. "Crazy" welcomes Nate Dogg's splendid hook with a light bridge, at his latest contribution alive in an album by his cousin. Nottz gives a bouncy pop beat to the song with R. Kelly, which somehow works. The posse track with E-40, MC Eiht, Kurupt, Daz and Goldie Loc is another highlight, over Rick Rock's upbeat rhythm. Timbaland and Danja create a solid boom bap for "Get a Light" with Damian Marley, and over the next five songs, Snoop Dogg sounds at his best.
The beat chosen by Terrace Martin in "Gangbangin '101" is excellent, and is surpassed by that of Dr. Dre in "Boss' Life", by a wide margin the best soundscape on which Snoop has performed in that decade: the rhythm is beautiful, hard dry midtempo drum, wonderful loop, perfect, the MC is one with the song, supported by a hook from Akon (later removed due to clashes with the label and replaced by Nate). "LAX" is a song close to the club, followed by another The Neptunes production: it's hard to find an album where both The Neptunes and Timbaland have both provided at least one good beat, but here The Neptunes put two, placing another haunting loop for "10 Lil' Crips". Dre's sublime beat in "Round Here" completes a masterful, impressive three quarters of an hour. When the Doctor, DJ Battlecat and Neptunes move away from the keyboards, production begins to suffer and the quality of the disk drops. The second part of the record isn't at the level of the previous one until "Imagine", produced by Dr. Dre, and "Conversations", a track that boasts Stevie Wonder on the chorus and in production, together with DJ Pooh.
Released by his label and Geffen, the album reaches fifth place on the Billboard 200 and second in the rap chart, certified gold. It's clearly the second-best LP in Snoop Dogg's discography at the time of writing (late 2021). It's one of his few records where I don't want to skip any tracks, even on the worst rhythms. It has the best soundscape and the best rap since 1993, the production is enveloping, warm, crisp, and enjoyable, and the MC sounds as fresh as in the debut, lively, tight, deeply flowing. Like all of his projects, it exceeds in the amount of material offer, with 21 songs in 78 minutes: with a few less tracks and a running time of around 50 minutes, it would easily be one of the best projects of the decade. 8.3/10.
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