Snoop Dogg - Doggumentary

With the current climate of seasoned artists releasing sequels to their critically acclaimed debut albums, the world has had more than a curious eye on the potential 11th release from Big Snoop Dogg - so named Doggumentary Music – Doggystyle 2.

Dropping the idea of a sequel early on, Snoop amassed a collection of current producers/artists to collaborate with on (the now named) Doggumentary. As Snoop has shown throughout his career, his choice of ‘hot right now’ is always on point. Be it Wiz Khalifa (The Weed Iz Mine), Young Jeezy (My Fucn House w/ E-40), T-Pain (Boom) & the Gorillaz (Sumthin Like This - left off from the Plastic Beach effort by them). Add to the above mix established producers Kanye West, Lex Luger, Scott Storch, Battlecat & Fredwreck, plus fam members Goldie Loc, Daz Dillinger & R. Kelly it comes as a surprise that you find yourself hitting the skip button.

The lead single ‘Wet’ was created for the bachelor party to Prince William, and it should have stayed as that - a ‘one off’ themed song. Production from the Cataracts (‘Like A G-6’ fame) has the track destined for ridiculous club/radio play - but that doesn’t mean it’s good. The overplay of autotune to allow Snoop to sing is getting tiresome, as it comes off like a poor sequel to Kanye’s ‘Love Lockdown’.

The album bounces round with little flow, but that works in the album's favour. Snoop stated he ‘wanted the album to reflect his life & love of music’; so all genres are present from hood music (My Fucn House), pop/radio friendly (Eyes Closed) & country (Superman w/ Willie Nelson). But where as the mix of genres works, the songs themselves let Snoop down. Be it over saturation of Snoop in the media, or that we were biased to the potential Doggystyle 2, but the album has little to make you tweet your friend that you are banging a new Snoop Dogg track. And that is no mean feat with a solid effort; the album is quite long at 22 tracks (including the bonus David Guetta remix ‘Sweat’).

Snoop has delivered at best, a 3.5 effort of an album. And that’s nothing to brow-down over, as that is how ALL of Snoop’s albums rated (except the first of course). Apart from a handful of standout tracks (eg Vato, That’s That, Drop It Like It’s Hot, Beautiful, B Please), Snoop’s musical career seems bigger than it is - thanks to the carefully crafted product placement of ‘himself’. And maybe that’s Snoop’s charm, we never know where he will appear or what he will do next, but we can always count on him to provide solid music for the summer.

Bunk 27.03.11

Doggumentary
Scheduled Release March 29, 2011
Priority/EMI Records