|
Snoop Dogg - No Limit Top Dogg The career of Snoop Doggy Dogg: After a guest appearence on "Deep Cover" with Dr. Dre, many people had high hopes for the Long Beach rapper. He exceeded all expectations with his performance on The Chronic, Dr. Dre's compilation album of all the artists signed to the newly formed Death Row in 1992. Snoop hit the scene when gangsta rap artists had the same respect as the pioneers and the positive MC's. His flow and voice was unlike anyone else, and his lyricism was way beyond anyone else in the gangsta genre. Who else was "in love like a motherfucker licking the pearl tongue", yelling "never hesitate to put a nigga on his back" and telling tales about "a 2 man cell with my homie Little Half Dead" and having every hip-hop fan aged 12-35 feeling it and singing along? Snoop and company propelled gangsta rap to new heights, which unfortunately resulted in a lot of biting and stealing, and very little creativity. But in late 93, right at the height of gangsta success, Snoop and Dre would return with a dope follow up, Doggystyle. While not as fresh as The Chronic, Dre's beats and Snoop's flow destroyed any gangsta competition at the time. While everyone else was strictly kicking G stories, Snoop was covering "Ladi Dadi" and living in a "Doggy Dogg World". "Slim with a tilted brim." Things were all good. Snoop's next disc, The Doggfather, disappointed many. Dre had left Death Row, leaving less talented producers making weak tracks, and to top it off Snoop changed his flow up from smooth to, well, I don't know but it didn't work. This disaster was the last we heard from Snoop until he bounced and signed with No Limit records, makers of the wackest music ever. Could Snoop put out a dope album on a wack label? Why not? Well, he didn't. Da Game is to be Sold, Not Told. It was a typical No Limit CD, and I don't even have to explain what that is. A new all time low for the Dogg. Check "Dog's get lonely too" if you don't believe me. So why give Snoop another chance, especially on No Limit Records? I wasn't planning on it, but after peeping it first, I couldn't front. It's somewhat nice. Master P must have thought there was something wrong with Da Game... too, because he let Snoop do what he wanted to do with this. (except for the liner notes) The results are good. I'll run down song by song. First off, the cover is typical No Limit style, and the liner notes are filled with advertisements for 20,000 No Limit CD's as well as shoes and that talking Master P doll. I think I'm throwing the whole booklet away next time I listen to this. Dolemite Intro Pointless but short. Less than 30 seconds of Dolemite introducing Snoop. Too short to even reach for the fast forward. Buck Em Dre did the beat. The tightest beat Snoop's had in 5 years. The beats kind of dark with a light guitar playing in the background. Snoop immediately returns to old form. Sticky Fingaz helps out with the hook, but before you know it, the songs over. Less than 3 minutes. Trust Me Uh-oh. An early slip-up. Suga Free and Sylk E. Fyne drop by, and they're about as bad as some No Limit Soldiers. The hook is someone singing "I wish you wouldn't trust me so much" to his girl. It's some player shit. It's nice to hear Snoop ride a beat the way he did years ago, but the beat isn't all that, so this is fast forward material. My Heat Goes Boom I don't know who Meech Wells is, but he gets props for this beat. You can tell that "The top dogg with the gold flea collar" is mad comfortable with this. "My heat goes boom, boom-boom, boom-boom, boom" is the hook, and this draws up images of Snoop getting his ride on in a 64 Impala like the year was 93. A dope song. Dolemite Interlude Pointless interlude. Dolemite talking shit about running for president. F-Forward Snoopafella Remake of Dana Dane's classic "Cinderfella" story. He switches a few minor things like in Ladi Dadi, but it's basically the same song. I'm feeling it, especially since I don't have the original on tape. With no cursing at all, this has HUGE HIT written all over it. In Love with a Thug Average song, nothing special. The beat is weak, "Mama, I'm in love with a gangsta" and some dude singing on the hook. Pretty self explanatory. I'll be skipping it, although Snoop's flow is impressive once again. G Bedtime Stories The first single, and maybe some props to Slick Rick as it starts off with kids asking Uncle Snoop for a bedtime story. Snoop than rocks an original story over another dope Meech Wells beat. The Snoop of old has returned, and this time he's got some storytelling ability. Down 4 my Niggas Well, this is No Limit. C-Murder and Magic stop by. One sounds like a wannabe 2Pac, and the other one is worse. Snoop's verse is weak, (how many times will the lines "Some of these niggas are bitches too/and some of these niggas look just like you") but it's the beat that's worst of all. An annoying horn that sounds like a theme from a B-movie. "Fuck them other niggas, I'm down with my niggas" How original. Betta Days Props to Meech Wells for another dope beat. It's a feel-good party beat, with Snoop keeping his head up and kicking rhymes about better days ahead. Snoop is at his best on this type of cut. Again, this could fit right in on Doggystyle. "My grandpappy once sat me on his lap and he said/Sonny get your money before you end up dead/I never really understood what he said/Until my motherfuckin dogg took a slug in his head" I'm feeling this, especially with it's somewhat positive message. If I'm not mistaken, I thought he said somewhere in here that everyone should stop smoking weed, but the rest of the disc is filled with weed references. Somethin About Yo Business WBALLS returns for an intro to this cut, and Rapheal Saadiq of Tony Toni Tone drops by and brings his beautiful voice along with him. The beat is slow and mellow, and sounds more like a TTT song insead of the Dogg, but since I love TTT I don't mind. Snoop drops a couple verses, but nothing special. There's something weird about hearing Snoop rapping on a love song. No cursing makes this one perfect for daytime radio. A little guitar closes the song out, and I give the whole song props, but many Snoop fans might not dig it. Bitch Please Oh Shit! Dre drops another tight beat, and Xzibit and Snoop trade verses. "You fuckin with some real OG's" The beat is tight with a sythesizer in back of a wicked drum kick. Xzibits style fits in nice with the beat and Snoops laid back rapping. His verse is probably the tightest on the disc. This Cali combination is dope as hell. Doin' too Much DJ Quik drops a ridiculously dope g-funkish beat, and Snoop picks it up real quick. The whole song has a mellow feel, as Snoop tells tales of those caught up in too much drama. The hook changes up everytime, but they're all dope. Peep: "And when a nigga on the phone runnin up your bill/tryin to tell some hoodrat bitch how he feels/you know he doin too much" Crazy dope cut. 4 in a row. Gangsta Ride The beat is generic typical g-funk with a sing-song chorus. Then Silkk the Shocker kicks the first verse, with of course, no flow whatsoever, but he's done quick. Snoop has a decent flow, but their's nothing special about this cut, and the hook is annoying as a bad Warren G song. Fast Forward. Ghetto Symphony This is the No Limit Soldiers posse cut. The beat is simple hand clapping behind the piano loop from The Juice Crew's Symphony. The beat sounds cheap, and 6 soldiers waste my time with bullshit before Snoop rocks the mic. What's funny is you can hear how superior Snoop is to the rest of these dudes. And if someone doesn't kill Silkk the Shocker soon, I'm going to go crazy. Mystikal, who has been okay in the past, does nothing special on this track. Peep Snoop showing how it's done: "This jam is dedicated to all non-optimistic/that thought I wasn't comin out with some exquisite/rhymes, but that's okay cause now I'm back/to kill all the rumors and straighten the facts" It's almost worth sitting thru the 4 minutes of wackness to hear Snoop drop game. Party with a DPG Wack beat. The hook from Earth, Wind and Fire's "Shining Star" as the hook. Snoop inviting all to party with him. Fast Forward. Buss'N Rocks DJ Quik drops another sick dope g-funk beat. Another cut that would have fit in on Doggystyle. The hook is to the rhythm of Rick James' "Bustin Out" but this time it's "We're all a little strong, in the Beach where the paper's Long/but as for me, I only G, when I'm Buss'n Rocks" Dope. Snoop has an old school type flow on this cut. Real nice. Just Dippin Dre drops a G-Funkish beat for the first time in a long time. Dre and Snoop rap back and forth for awhile, a la Nothin but a G Thang, and Jewell sings in the background, a la Dre Day. It's a car anthem, a la Let Me Ride. This is the cut we've been waiting for. Don't Tell DJ Quik does the beat. It's real slow, nothing special. Typical player raps, but Snoop's flow sounds different, kind of forced. If the G in Warren G stands for G-Child, the W must stand for wack. Some Mauseburg dude stops in and says nothing important with a wack flow. Nate Dogg is the only one who seems into the song, singing his heart and soul out to close off the song. Even says "Ain't No Fun if the homies can't have none." He just goes off singing and rapping. Still a fast forward cut. 20 Minutes Snoop and his boy Goldie Loc kick gangsta shit over a tight bouncy beat. Snoop is way superior to this Goldie guy, but it's still a dope song to start to close things off. I Love my Momma Meech Wells lays down a tight beat, but some singer with a bad voice sings for the first minute and a half. Snoop then raps 1 verse about his mother and what she's done for him. The song's mad short and you might as well eject the disc before you get to this. Nothing special. Overall: This isn't going to change the face of rap music. If you liked g-funk when it was fresh and new, but haven't liked any gangsta rap in the last 5 years, pick this up and remember the days when if you fucked with Snoop, you were fuckin with Death Row. It's not a classic. It's only May and it isn't even in the top 5 of the year. But it's Snoop Dogg's first legitimate follow-up to Doggystyle, and that alone is worth the money. If you've never felt Snoop, don't get this. If you liked Snoop way back in the day, he'll have you open on some spots of this disc like he did before. 3 out of 5 stars. | |