REVIEW: SNOOP DOGG - MISSIONARY

4/5

The New Position

"The East Coast ain't got no love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and Death Row?!" Ever since Snoop Dogg claimed his new electric chair throne as the head honcho of Death Row Records, he's been charged. Releasing albums at an alarming clip. In 2022, after many indies, the 'Drop It Like It's Hot' rapper released 'BODR' to celebrate being back on Death Row. And in the same year, he aligned with the West's best of Ice Cube, E-40 and Too $hort to form the West Coast supergroup Mount Westmore, carving up the competition with their album 'Snoop Cube 40 $hort'. Now, repackaged and ribbed for your aural pleasure, he returns with the condom cover of 'Missionary'. Converting all those who flipped the switch on him, as he reunites with 'The Chronic' of Dr. Dre, producing his first full Snoop Doggy Dogg album since the dynamic debut and stone-rollin' hip-hop classic 'Doggystyle'. Back in fashion on its 30th anniversary and assuming the position with no more "delicate" beats. Forget the Vaseline, lubricated like latex, a month after Ice Cube's 'Man Down'.

Coming out of deep cover, hip-hop has taken some hits this year. That's what happens when some of its biggest stars and pioneers turn out to be bigger d###s than the first letter of their names. Lucky for us, like Kendrick, Snoop and Dre are not like them. As a matter of fact, 'Missionary' and the short-film to come (reminding us of the joint they lit in the convenience store before their 'Up In Smoke' tour), is as much a Dr. Dre album as a Dogg-gone one. Some are dubbing this as a collaborative album and it almost feels like one. Much like when Jay-Z (erm) appeared on the last Jay Electronica album. Or, more appropriately, when Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon and Ghostface Killah traded 'Lynx' and 'Wallets'. Better yet, when Calvin Broadus appeared on Andre Young's 'Chronic'. Murder is the case again, with only killers in the building, as Dre mans the boards of this sweet sixteen track album. Also adding a couple of those to tracks like the M.I.A. 'Paper Planes' and Lisa Stansfield (she's set for life with the hip-hop community and 'Been Around The World' and "I, I, I") sampling single 'Outta Da Blue' (with Alus), 'Pressure' (featuring K.A.A.N.), and 'Now Or Never' (assisted by BJ (stay away from Diddy) The Chicago Kid), rapping out of retirement. A year off 60, but not playing with flutes like another 'dre, the good doctor still has it.

Bowling us over even more than their Super Bowl half-time show (as legendary as Lamar is, that's quite a legacy to follow this year), this is the first time Snoop and Dre have laid down tracks together since Dr. Dre's cinematic 'Compton', a sign of the Hollywood hip-hop times that saw Snoop rap like a man possessed on 'One Shot One Kill'. With no sign of 'Detox', the boys are still at it like the 'Kush' they rolled up with Akon, when Dogg rapped, "still I am/tighter than the jeans on Will.i.am", which is still a crazily underrated rhyme. On the same New Music Friday that Snoop lends his voice to the DMX posthumous prayer album 'Let Us Pray: Chapter X' (think 2Pac's 'The Rose That Grew From Concrete'), he brings many big names to the city of stars and lost angels here. The Chicago Kid again for some 'Fore Play' (we won't say anything again about this big swing), Jhené Aiko on the 'Gorgeous' second single. Method Man and Smitty reaching for 'Skyscrapers'. Cocoa Sarai on 'Fire' and a 'Sticcy Situation' with K.A.A.N. And Dem Jointz, Stalone and Fat Money on the lean of a 'Gangsta Pose'.

Yet the man who has collaborated with everyone from Willie Nelson to Miley Cyrus (when he went by the Snoop Lion animal moniker) saves the best for the latest single, sampling Sting and featuring a member of The Police that N.W.A. won't say "F You" too in 'Another Part Of Me'. Sting will be glad to get this 'Message In A Bottle' after his last rap 'Roxanne' collaboration. Snoop even channels the late, great Tom Petty (alongside man of the moment Jelly Roll) for the heartbreaking 'Last Dance With Mary Jane'. If that wasn't enough, he interpolates Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)', with a hammer for the new 'Hard Knock' life. Playing 'The Negotiator' like Soul Dog or Sam Jackson. The biggest and best collabo may just be the Aftermath of the 'Gunz n Smoke' with 50 Cent and Eminem. 50 sounding his best since he was hanging upside down like "go...go..." But on this 'Thank You' like X to the Lord, Snoop Dogg sounds his best when he goes it alone with Dr. Dre in 'Shangri-La'. Rapping, "We 'bout to rewrite history in this motherf#####/Yeah, get high, get high, get high, get high, get high/With some monumental s###/Good mornin', it's Mr. Broadus/The moment finally upon us." Mission accomplished. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Outta Da Blue (Feat Dr. Dre & Alus)', 'Another Part Of Me (Feat. Sting)', 'Gunz n Smoke (Feat. 50 Cent & Eminem)'.

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