I think the story of a certain Snoop Dogg is one of the saddest tales in hip-hop. As you will most likely know, his performances on “Deep Cover”, “The Chronic”, not to mention his legendary, classic solo debut album “Doggystyle”, propelled a young Calvin Broadus to the very summit of the rap game. But, of course, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Snoop is the epitome of this curse. He lost the aid of his long-time collaborator, goliath Dr. Dre, he saw the record label he had helped built, Death Row Records, slowly sink. He released a true crime of an album, 1998’s disaster “Da Game is to be Sold not Told”. He was criticised heavily for falling-off completely, losing that old Snoop flow, and becoming redundant as an artist. To cut a long story short, Snoop has seen it all. His latest attempt at a comeback album, 2001’s “The Last Meal”, was received generally well but I wasn’t impressed. At all.

However, Snoop has had another crack of the 'comeback' whip in 2002. Here’s my review of the nicely titled “Paid Da Cost to be Da Boss”.

Track Listing

1. Don Doggy.
2. Da Boss Would Like to See You
3. Stoplight. (****)
4. From the Church to the Palace. Feat. Pharrell of The Neptunes. (**)
5. I Believe In You. Feat. LaToiya Williams. (****)
6. Lollipop. Feat. Jay-Z, Soopafly & Nate Dogg. (****)
7. Ballin’. Feat. The Dramatics (****)
8. Beautiful. Feat. Pharell. (***)
9. Paper’d Up. Feat. Mr. Kane & Traci Nelson. (****)
10. Wasn’t Your Fault. (****)
11. Bo$$ Playa. (****)
12. Hourglass. Feat. Mr. Kane & Goldie Loc (****)
13. The One and Only (*****)
14. I Miss that Bit-h (****)
15. From Long Beach 2 Brick City. Feat. Redman & Nate Dogg. (****)
16. Suited and Booted. (***)
17. You Got What I Want. Feat. Ludacris & Goldie Loc. (****)
18. Batman & Robin. Feat. Lady of Rage & RBX (*****)
19. A Message 2 A fat Cuzz (Interlude)
20. Pimp’t Slapped. (*****)

Snoop Dogg has somewhat overhauled his approach to hip-hop with “Paid Da Cost to be Da Boss”. As a lyricist Snoop Dogg fell off a long time ago, which was obvious to everyone apart from (as it would seem) Snoop. He tried too hard to be something he wasn't with past releases. But he has learnt from his mistakes. Most of the best moments of Snoop’s sixth full-length album are the slow ones. “Believe In You” is a slow, relaxed jam with soulful vocals from affiliate LaToiya Williams and chilled-out rhyming from Tha Dogg Father. It is funny saying this, but few other rappers could make “Ballin’ work. Soul positively invades this song, and fans of “Doggy Dogg World” (from “Doggystyle”, of course) will be delighted to hear The Dramatics joining up with Snoop again, lending a magnificent hook to Battlecat’s funky beat. While these tracks are excellent in their ways, if you listen to them expecting raw street-lyricism, then you're not gonna like this album. Snoop has wisely abandoned this futile course of action, and mellowed, chilled and become more relaxed.

You see, at the age of 30 Snoop is no longer a young ‘un in the game. He's a veteran who has been through the thick and the thin. I think he doesn't need to be something hip-hop purists want him to be anymore. “Stoplight” is a return to a classic Snoop style. Fredwreck’s bouncy, pulsating synthesized beat has a comic-book feel to it, and Snoop gallops lazily through witty braggadocio reminiscent of “G’z and Hustlas”. I think that all hip-hop fans will champion “Batman & Robin”. Seminal producer DJ Premier obviously interpolates the Batman theme for the beat, which adds some crazily cool comic-book atmosphere to proceedings , but what really whets the appetite are the appearances from Lady of Rage and RBX. Two talented figures from Snoop’s past, Rage and Snoop tag-team throughout which brings back images of “G-Funk Intro”, and RBX adds his great growling voice to the hook. These tracks seem to effortlessly return to Snoop's golden years, with little of the forced, calculated nature of recent efforts.

Considering Snoop in recent years has become synonymous with filler, “Paid Da Cost to be Da Boss” has remarkably little, especially when you see its length. The Neptunes produced “Wasn’t Your Fault” is definitely below-average and the title track “Paid Da Cost to be Da Boss” is definitely one of the wackest lead singles of the year (which has also put me off The Neptunes for life). Asides from a disappointing absence of Dr. Dre beats (Snoop and Dre have always been a great duo) and these slight disappointments, I can find few major faults with this LP. Which I like.

Whatever the status of Snoop’s position with the critics, however, he is still one of the biggest figures in the rap game. “Paid Da Cost” has enough heavy-hitters gracing it to shame a Funkmaster Flex mixtape. Jay-Z drops by on the tounge-in-cheek “Lollipop”, alongside Dogghouse stalwarts Soopafly and Nate Dogg. This is an old-fashioned humorous Westcoast pimp song with a quirky, cheeky Jellyroll flute-based beat and falsetto-style chorus lending a relaxed atmosphere. “From Long Beach 2 Brick City” has a typically insane performance from New Jersey luminary Redman, and “You Got What I Want” features stellar guests in the form of Dirty South rapper Ludacris and Eastsidaz member Goldie Loc.

Adding to his already impressive track, DJ Premier has another dose of his magic for “The One And Only”. With a dope jangling guitar-based bassline as well as a cool scratched chorus (a requisite for a Primo song), Primo’s beat actually suits Snoop wonderfully, and the Long Beach rapper doesn’t disappoint. His lyrics are vaguely autobiographical, and deal with his rise to the top, the obstacles he's faced in his career, and general thoughts about his life: "Ain't no more Calvin Broadus/ world on my shoulders/ But I can handle it/ Now that I'm older, I'm sharper/ can you remember when I slid in on Deep Cover?" Great introspective mind-set in this song, as a result my favourite cut.

And Snoop is definitely out to reaffirm his position as one of hip-hop’s relevant and main players. The spoken interlude “A Message 2 Fat Cuzz” is obviously addressing Snoop's nemesis Suge Knight, which he then expands on in “Pimp Slapp'd”. This diss song circled around the net a few weeks back, and it is Snoop’s response to much of the controversy surrounding Tha Row and Snoop. He calls out Suge repeatedly, not to mention popping off minor shots at Kurupt and Xzibit: "Cos I'll f--k every last one of them up/ Especially Kurupt/ now that's my lil' homie, see he knows what's up" and "I'm not Xzibit, you can't pull my hoe card". Here the emcee Snoop resurfaces; he sounds lean and focused throwing barbs at the aforementioned. Rumour has it Suge even paid a visit to Priority Records to try and get this track removed from the album; a move which thankfully didn’t work.

After the minor disaster that was “Tha Last Meal” (in my eyes anyway), I’m glad to report “Paid Da Cost to be Da Boss”, while not containing any lyrical gymnastics like the Gza or Canibus album you may have just picked up, combines funky, soulful beats with Snoop's mature and assured lyrics that only a 10 year industry veteran can provide. "Paid Da Cost to be Da Boss" one of the better releases of 2002, and well worth a listen.

3.5 mics

Oh... yeah, after a lazy period for me, expect reviews of Talib Kweli, Canibus, Gza and WC all coming 'atcha in the couple of weeks!!

Recommended: Yes