Review: Snoop Dogg – Coolaid

After being in the rap game for a certain length of time and being successful during that time, you earn the right to basically do what you want with little judgement. That statement applies to everybody’s favorite uncle in the rap game. After building Death Row with Dre, bouncing to No Limit, moving on from that to continue to produce quality music, to going full Rastafarian on us, Snoop has taken advantage of being an elder statesman in the rap game and doing whatever he wants. For his latest release Snoop Dogg decides to return back to his roots of being Snoop Doggy Dogg.

Whether it is the G-Funk inspired and heavily charged banger “Super Crip” or the appropriately titled “Affiliated,” it is clear that for this album, Snoop Dogg in returning back to his roots. On “Super Crip” Snoop lets it be known that he is still down for his set and that it’s nothing for the OG to start banging again. Just Blaze provides the perfect G-Funk inspired backdrop to go along with Snoop’s brash vocals. Whereas on “Affiliated” Snoop and Trick Trick remind people that while they may not be active in their hoods they both will easily go bang in their hoods if need be. These two tracks are just reminders that the same aggressive Snoop from the Death Row days is still around and still a force to deal with.

There are times where Coolaid suffers from the lack of cohesiveness. Covering a vast amount of topics and sounds over the course of a twenty track album is setting yourself up to stumble at times. There are tracks such as “Light It Up” and “Let The Beat Drop” where Snoop just feels out of place or uninspired. Speaking of those two tracks they both suffer from less than stellar production courtesy of Swizz Beatz and they both sound the same and are interchangeable.

Overall, Coolaid is proof that Snoop can still tap back into his younger days and rap that gangsta lifestyle like he wakes up every morning, irons his khakis, grabs his flag, and crip walks out the door to go live the life. So when you see your Uncle Snoop coming down the block in his khakis with his flag hanging respect the OG for being able to still be in the game for over two decades and staying fresh and current with the times while remaining true to himself and his essence.

DeLa’s Final Thoughts

One of Snoop’s better releases recently. “Legend”, “Ten Toes Down”, “Super Crip” are the strongest of the strong points but the whole album is solid overall.

Stream Snoop Dogg‘s COOLAID.

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