The worst thing about this album is that Snoop Dogg, known years ago as Snoop Doggy Dogg, changed his name to make it. This new change may be temporary, an alias to reflect his sudden switch from a “gangsta” rapper to a reggae singer, but it’s still silly and unnecessary. “Snoop Dogg” has a nice cool ring to it. “Snoop Lion”, which adds an awkward syllable and sounds like an ebonical way of accusing Snoop of “lying”, sounds comparatively stupid.
The songs are better. Not better than most of his Dogg songs; albums like The Blue Carpet Treatment and Doggystyle trump this one easily; but better than the name. Memorable vocal melodies are hard to find; the Fruit Juice and Smoke The Weed anthems are downright annoying; but the beats are convincingly groovy. Though Snoop often forgets to fake a Jamaican accent, this is, for what it’s worth, real reggae music. It’s just mediocre reggae music.
my rating : 3 of 5
2013
