Send "Snoop Dogg " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Last summer, Snoop Dogg headlined the backpack-centric Rock the Bells tour, performing his classic debut album, Doggystyle, in full every night and drawing rapturous reviews. This year, Snoop will make a few stops on Charlie Sheen's continuous-trainwreck Violent Torpedo of Truth tour, performing a song that he and Sheen have apparently recorded together. That duality is pretty much circa-2011 Snoop in a nutshell. He's a rap legend, and he's also an unapologetically inane public figure, someone who's more famous for being famous than he is for rapping. He seems to enjoy both roles in equal measure. And so late-period Snoop albums become weird, uncentered artifacts, with no real idea or consistent personality pulling them all together. You get sweeping attempts at crossover hits, nasty street-rap throwbacks, and bizarre cross-genre collaborations that any self-aware A&R never would've allowed. And even though Snoop is nowhere near the commercial force he once was, he can still round up a fuckton of famous people whenever he decides to record an album. Not too many artists would bury their Kanye West collaborations on track 18 of their albums, but that's what Snoop does on Doggumentary, his latest reminder to the world that he's still an active musician.More than many of Snoop's recent efforts, Doggumentary has something of a sonic identity. Snoop mines slick, slapbass-heavy 1980s R&B and computer-funk on the album, working with producers like Fredwreck, Jake One, and Battlecat to conjure the smooth soul of the early Reagan era. Another rap veteran recently did great things with that same loose aesthetic playground: Big Boi on last year's excellent Sir Lucious Left Foot. But where Big Boi and his collaborators attacked that stuff with a giddy sense of experimental joy, Snoop just lets it sit there, as if his older-than-time persona will be enough to sell whatever he wants. And so vast stretches of the way-too-long Doggumentary drift by, making no impression whatsoever....full text |
| Planetill |
| Snoop Dogg’s 11th studio album, The Doggumentary, is the latest iteration of a formula that Snoop has employed for quite some time. Packed to the gills with features, the set shows Snoop to be a bit more musically courageous in his older years. It also reveals a desperate need to remain current in a marketplace that increasingly sees him as more of a familiar media personality than a classic rap artist worthy of reverence. “The Way Life Used to Be” features an uncharacteristically somber soundscape from G-Funk veteran Battlecat. Troubling violins and organs lull the listener into an uneasy trance. Battlecat then settles into a slightly more familiar groove with “Wonder What It Do,” which is a full on remake of Boz Scaggs breezy soul classic “Lowdown.” The beat is dope but snoop does his usual shtick over it. “My Fuckin’ House” features E-40 and Young Jeezy. The trap house production by Rick Rock is suitably uproarious but also boringly standard considering how many songs use that exact same formula nowadays. Slinky stutter stepping G-Funk is the order of the day on “Peer Pressure.” It has Snoop delivering a cautionary tale that would have been very out of character in his earlier years. “I Don’t Need No Bitch” features grand organs over an imposing stomp and clap. Devin the Dude joins Snoop in celebrating pimpish emancipation from said “bitches.” The content is as misogynistic as expected, but Snoop and Devin excel at this sort of thing....full text |
| Hiphopdx |
| "Despite its few splashes of greatness, Doggumentary is a grave disappointment from a west coast iconoclast." Faced with the decision of making the promised Doggystyle II or a more traditional project, Snoop Dogg came to the proverbial fork in the road and went straight. Doggumentary is a concept album that allowed fans a multi-media glimpse at the Long Beach superstar's creative process, and just how he has been able to churn out relevant albums for the 18 years. The campaign was complete with bachelor party songs to Royalty, Wiz Khalifa smoke-out sessions and a slew of endorsements, but in the end all of those activities may have trumped the actual album itself. Doggumentary isn’t a frustrating listen because of shortcomings, as many of them that there are; it’s frustrating because there are some real glimpses of late-career genius on it that Snoop continues to neglect. The album opens strong with the expertly produced “The Way Life Used to Be.” Veteran producer Battlecat’s subtle head nodder of a beat exudes with G-Funk sounds, while Snoop’s laid-back delivery lets the listener walk a mile in his house shoes growing up in sunny C-A. The song serves as the perfect companion piece to the cautionary tale of “Peer Pressure,” which finds Snoop side-stepping preach inclinations in favor of his experiential wisdom. The album continues on with a series of top-notch cuts, from west coast throwbacks (“Wonder What I Do,” “We Rest in Cali”) to gleefully ignorant guilty pleasures (“My Fucn House” , “Take U Home” ). Calvin is in rare form at this stage in the LP, blending his LBC roots with his two decades of musical experience. The guest list alone, although perhaps too expansive, finds Snoop perfectly balancing his DPGC brethren like Daz Dillinger and Goldie Loc with newfound friends like Wiz Khalifa and Young Jeezy. Even the legendary Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Boosty Collins throws his top hat into the ring, bringing a level of authenticity to Snoop’s return to G-Funk form....full text |
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