17 years and ten albums later, everyone’s favorite Hip-Hop uncle in Big Snoop Dogg is still (musically) alive and kicking.
His latest project, Malice n Wonderland, (which marks the tenth solo album of his career) is next up to bat, and the Long Beach, California native keeps it all the way gangsta.
Also joining the “D-O-double G” this time around are the usual suspects of Dr. Dre, The Neptunes, R. Kelly, Lil Jon, Timbaland, and Teddy Riley, along with The-Dream, and newcomers Jazmine Sullivan, Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, and Nipsey Hussle.
The West Coast staple takes listeners on a trip through his version of Wonderland by solidifying his place in Hip-Hop via discussing the facts on ‘2 Minute Warning,’ he then hooks up with Lil Jon on the adlib-assisted ‘1800,’ and subsequently uses a simple piano sample on ‘Different Languages,’ where he shouts out his wife with lines like;
“Jay got Beyoncé, I got Shante/wit no entrée, that’s my baby.”
He then embraces the younger generation by featuring Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em on ‘Pronto,’ and the teenager comes calling with Autotune in hand, and his simplistic rhymes as well.
One of the stronger tracks on the album is ‘Upside Down,’ featuring one of the West Coast’s new faces in Nipsey Hussle, and the young lyricist assures the big homie that the house he helped build will be in good hands with his strong showing.
R. Kelly then helps Uncle Snoop Dogg talk about the difficulties of being a pimp on the horn-oriented ‘Pimpin Ain’t EZ’ (prod. by Nottz).
The trip then concludes with songs like The-Dream featured ‘Gangsta Luv,’ ‘Luv Drunk,’ (feat. ‘Special’Brandy and Pharrell), and ‘That’s The Homie’; while contributions like ‘Secrets’ (feat. Kokane) could’ve been left off the itinerary.
Surviving almost 20 years in an industry famous for its short-term memory, and to still be relevant is obviously something to be proud of, and the now 38-year-old husband and father of three has plenty to happy about.
No more is he the shy MC who first appeared on ‘Deep Cover,’ because that persona has been replaced by a full-fledged businessman who clearly has more important things to worry about; but it’s still nice to see Uncle Snoop Dogg visit that thing called Hip-Hop every now and then.
