Album: Snoop Dogg, Malice N Wonderland (Priority)

Andy Gill
Friday 04 December 2009 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Celebrating his recent appointment as "Creative Chairman" of Priority Records, Snoop Dogg has managed to release an album whose overall meagre level of creativity makes one wonder how he'll work out in his new position.

Sure, he's still one of hip-hop's most engaging characters himself, boasting here of how he's "connected everywhere", but despite the array of collaborators old and new, Malice N Wonderland wants desperately for innovation and fresh attitude. There's only a certain amount of entertainment value in hearing Snoop bang on about hot tubs, pimping, gang-banging, booze and, as he so eloquently puts it in "Luv Drunk", getting "my rat-tat-tat in her boom-boom pie", and Snoop long ago used up his complement. As a bona fide industry don, he refers to young protégés like Problem, Nipsey Hussle and Soulja Boy as his "nephews", and while some show promise – Lil Jon's groove to the tequila-talking "1800" has sinister fizz and pep, and B-Don's auto-tuned hook to "Pronto" possesses a certain panache – the album is overly reliant on old-school producers such as The Neptunes, Timbaland, Tricky Stewart & The-Dream, Nottz, and even Teddy Riley. The best track, due to the greater coherence imposed by R. Kelly, is "Pimpin' Ain't EZ", which rather indicates just how over-familiar things are in Snoop's world.

Download this Pimpin' Ain't EZ; 1800; Pronto

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in