TAG24's Take: Snoop Dogg does a victory lap with new record BODR
Snoop Dogg, the man that seems to do it all, dropped his latest album BODR just a few days before his big Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show.
Snoop must feel like he's floating on a cloud right now. And not just a cloud of some good herb, but one of bliss and happiness.
He's a bit of a Renaissance man, having done everything from Corona commercials and acting in movies to selling his own line of G pens. He even starred in Girls Gone Wild commercials in the early 2000s.
If Snoop decided to release a stand-up comedy special on Netflix tomorrow, we wouldn't be shocked. He would probably kill it.
So it was no real surprise when last week, he managed to acquire Death Row Records, release an album on the label, host the Puppy Bowl with Martha Stewart, and play the biggest halftime show ever – all in the span of a few days.
The man has got to feel like he's at the top of his game, and that seems to be the general theme of his latest effort BODR, which stands for "Bacc On Death Row."
BODR feels like a victory lap for a man who seems to always be hustling, and it doesn't look like he'll be slowing down any time soon.
Snoop is back in his element
When I was a kid, my favorite thing to do was to go through my Dad's record collection. He had two copies of Doggystyle, Snoop's first album, and I would always sneak off somewhere to listen to it in secret and read the booklet that came with it.
To this day, Doggystyle is considered by many hip-hop fans to be one of the best albums of all time. That and Snoop's second record, Tha Doggfather, were his only releases on Death Row Records – until now.
26 long years and 16 records later, it has to be humbling for Snoop to have come full circle, and to have bought the entire label while he's at it.
The cover art for BODR hits me right in the feels, as its cartoon pays homage to the staples of my favorite era in hip-hop history – when it was a fresh art form and still scared most white people. Snoop seems hellbent on letting us know that no matter how much hip-hop has evolved as an art, you can still expect weed smoke, dope flow, and no love for hoes from the D-O double G.
The album's first track Still Smokin even brings back the beat from the first track of Dr. Dre's The Chronic, which Snoop is also featured on. It's reminiscent of the early days of G-Funk gangsta rap that Dre and Snoop are known to be pioneers of.
Speaking of G-Funk, Snoop even has a track on his new release with his late cousin Nate Dogg, called Outside The Box, that lights up the old sound.
With these tracks and more, BODR takes us back to the early days of gangster rap and serves up a meaty dish of what longtime fans love most about the golden beginnings of hip-hop.
There's a bit of something for everyone
Snoop Dogg has always stayed true to who he is and where he came from, which is a big part of his charm as a celebrity. It also shows through in his music, as he can jump on a track with just about anyone and flow on almost any beat to his own rhythm.
Longtime fans already know that Snoop has never been afraid to step outside the box artistically. In the past, he's released a gospel record and even briefly changed his name to Snoop Lion, under which he released a Reggae album.
While his latest drop definitely takes listeners on a ride back to the early '90s with chill beats and features from Nas, Snoop also seems self-aware that hip-hop is in a different place nowadays and is always evolving. It's clear that Snoop, and his music, is evolving with it.
BODR's tracks Sandwich Bag and Coming Back have beats that feel like his early years, while later tracks on the album like Catch A Vibe feel more modern.
It even features a song called Crip Ya Enthusiasm, where Snoop raps over the theme song for Larry David's show Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Overall, BODR has a little something for everyone, while also giving us a healthy dose of that '90s nostalgia so many hip-hop fans yearn for.
Cover photo: IMAGO/Fraser Band