Snoop Dogg

The cover artwork looks awful and anyone burned before by a bogus Snoop Dogg compilation will most likely pass on this one, but ZYX's Snoop Doggy Dogg & Friends, Vol. 1 is worth noting since it takes selections from Snoop's underground mixtape series Welcome to da Chuuch and makes them available above ground, at least until the realization hits that copyrights have been seriously infringed upon by the generous amount of samples here. The liner notes don't bother to mention that the good-timing "Let's Exchange Hoez" is a Snoop freestyle over Jay-Z's "Change Clothes." That's just one example, but the oddest of the lot is "Vote for Snoop," a rickety track that has Snoop delivering a short rap over a horribly scratchy copy of Marvin Gaye's "You're the Man." ZYX doesn't bother to order these tracks in any way that makes sense, the sped-up cover of Slick Rick's "Hey Young World" needs to be pitch-corrected, and Snoop is barely on a handful of these cuts. Still, this uneven and weird cash-in compilation provides some campy fun for the less discriminating Snoop fan. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide