Snoop Dogg is a little like Woody Allen. His projects
regularly promise exciting new directions, only to deliver the same old, same
old. The big difference is that late-period Snoop still delivers the goods via
killer singles and solid (though padded) albums. Though it shares its
predecessors' bloated length and quality-control issues, Snoop's newest, Ego
Trippin', largely justifies the new-model
Snoop hype. Snoop surprised and
delighted fans with the single "Sensual Seduction," a rapturous quiet-storm ode
to the female orgasm and that trendy robo-voice-modulator used by Akon and
T-Pain. It even came with an ingeniously lo-fi video that re-imagines the
world's cuddliest Crip as a bargain-basement Prince with serious Jheri Curl
issues.
DJ Quik and New Jack Swing mastermind Teddy Riley, who
mixed many of the tracks, give Ego Trippin'
a cohesive throwback '70s/'80s Sunday-afternoon-barbecue vibe in spite of the
usual preponderance of guest producers. Snoop Dogg steps away from gangsta posturing
in favor of channeling LL Cool J and drawling goodtime party rhymes. He even
gives country a whirl on the shockingly not-terrible "My Medicine." There have
always been innate contradictions in the concept of the superstar gangsta
rapper, but standout tracks like "Sensual Seduction" and "Deez Hollywood Nights"
find Snoop comfortably inhabiting the role of straight-up entertainer, while
the neo-soulful "Waste Of Time" with Raphael Saadiq and "Neva Have 2 Worry"
highlight a more introspective Snoop. Ego isn't exactly tight, but Snoop's silky sonic seduction proves awfully
irresistible.