Boss Dogg Chillin, Lookin Like a Million

Sometimes it hard to remember that Snoop Dogg still raps with all his acting, reality show, porn producing, wrestling enthusiast, product pitcher, Steelers and UFC cheerleader, and just general celebrity. It is hard to remember because despite releasing nine albums (six solo, three collaborations) this decade, he has only amassed one massive hit. And if you think about it, Snoop has had more hits being featured on a Dr. Dre track then ones credited to Snoop himself.

So it is not surprising on his tenth solo outing Malice N Wonderland, the best song on the set is the one that was produced by Dre. I Wanna Rock takes the intro from the seminal rap classic It Takes Two by D.J. EZ Rock and Rob Base and loops it into its own beat and turns the first three words by Rob Base into the hook to great effects even if Snoop shouts out Michael Vick who you would think would be the nemesis of the Doggfather. Though the only other producer who seems to get the best out of Snoop, Pharrell of the Neptunes, contribute to the album the slow jam Special featuring Brandy.

Other guest fall flat too, Soulja Boy Tell ‘em continues to suck massively with his auto-tune abusing Pronto with stupid lyrics like “I don’t freestyle because my rhymes aren’t free.” Lil’ John is resurrected from obscurity for 1800 that sounds like every other song he has ever produced. The-Dream, whoever that is, for some reason gets two spots (both of which he produced) on the album but also drowns his voice in unnecessary auto-tune which just makes the tracks worthless. Old schooler Kokain appears on Secrets which feature a sample Talking in Your Sleep by The Romantics that rivels anything by Puff Daddy has done for lamest 80’s sample ever.

The one guest spot that does actually work is by someone who doesn’t need any auto-tune R. Kelly (who recently released his own album that I won’t be reviewing because it didn’t feature any new chapters of Trapped in the Closet) on Pimpin Ain’t EZ which sounds like a fun extension of That’s That. But much like every album since Doggystyle, there is no reason to buy Malice N Wonderland in whole, just cherry pick the few good tracks and hope Snoop wises up and gets Dre to produce his whole album next time.

Song to Download – I Wanna Rock

Malice N Wonderland gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.