|
Top Dogg Review
07/13/2005 6:32 AM, AMG
As time keeps on slipping into the future, it becomes apparent that Master P's greatest gift is marketing. He knows how to move his product, how to make each record feel different than the one before, even if his producer posse Beats By the Pound keeps using the same rhythm track. The trick is -- as anyone could tell you -- advertising. Particularly when the advertising masquerades as liner notes. Witness P's work for Snoop Dogg, once considered the brightest rapper of the '90s but now merely a general in the No Limit army. The Master began plugging Top Dogg, Snoop's second No Limit release, in the liners for Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told, his debut for the label, even mentioning a release date only months away. Clearly, this was a sign that Snoop had indeed been placed on the No Limit production line, and there was every indication that this was how the game would be played from now on: Snoop would churn out moderately enjoyable, Dirty South-lite records crammed with cameos and appropriated hooks. Turns out he had a trick up his sleeve, because Top Dogg is about as individualized an album as possible under the No Limit precepts. Since the outset of his career, Snoop has shown a fondness for early-'80s synth-funk, and for the first time, he lets that form the basis of an album. And while there may be a bit too much recycling for some tastes, the end result isn't just the freshest-sounding Snoop album since his debut, it's easily the freshest-sounding No Limit album (even if it's just because it departs from the formula). Unfortunately, it's still a No Limit album, which means not only does it run way too long and is filled with superfluous, even irritating cameos, it means that Snoop is content to haul out low-rent gangsta clichés. Since he's a gifted rapper, he makes the dope n' crimes, sex n' violence rhymes go down easily (compare his delivery to some of his guests if you have any doubts), but his lyrics just aren't as clever as they were five years earlier, nor does he show any sign of wanting to tackle other subjects. But records don't have to be deep; they can be appreciated as a pure sonic experience, and taken on that level, Top Dogg satisfies. [Top Dogg was also released in a "clean" version, which contained no profanities or vulgarities.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
|
