Snoop Dogg

Gangsters don't die, they get chubby, then they move to Miami. From the easy-does-it approach Snoop employs on Ego Trippin', it sounds like he's already made his down payment on a bungalow in Coral Gables. Less lazy than it is leisurely, Snoop sounds like a hustler turning the page to a more reflective chapter with this album. Gone is the spitfire Crip from the LBC dodging rivals and court cases. In his place rests a self-assured godfather of the rap game, who's earned the right to be heard, because he wrote the book that today's players study from.

The Dogfather ego trips his way down memory lane in both style and content on the album. He gathered the family around and set the mood for his ghetto retrospective with the Zapp Band reminiscence of first single "Sexual Eruption." Chromeo may be as close as the hipsters today come to living through the '80s, but Snoop paints a first-hand picture of the decade with the song "Cool," sounding like a West Coast Morris Day. He even trots out the inventor of New Jack Swing, Teddy Riley, for production on the track to prove that you can't improve on the original when you set out to make a copy.

He only gets explicitly gangster a couple of times on the album—the southern gothic "Staxxx In my Jeans" and "Riding In My Chev" with its menacing drive-by beat. Otherwise he seems more content to try and create a party atmosphere, while basking in the warm sun of his twilight years. Like any matriarch, he may drag out story time a bit too long with 21 tracks on the album, but his excess is always to be forgiven. They don't build them like this anymore, so we should just smile and enjoy the time we have left with a true originator.

—Chas Reynolds
03.12.08

The original idea behind what Snoop Dogg considers his ninth album -- ignoring all those pesky and shoddy fringe releases -- was that the title represented a truly solo effort with no guest shots. As the street date grew closer, the rapper flipped the script and decided that Ego Trippin' referred to how he "let" people write songs for the album, songs Snoop could rap and sometimes, shockingly, sing. The leadoff good-time single "Sensual Seduction" -- or "Sexual Eruption" on the explicit album -- proved the latter wasn't a bad idea at all, with Snoop crafting a hooky bedroom track using both a smirk and a throwback Zapp feel. It was a perfect flagship release for an album that tries numerous things but never tries too hard, plus one where the nostalgia is plentiful and perfectly chosen. At the heart of it all are the "overseers" of the album, QDT Muzic, a production crew formed by Snoop along with new jack swing legend Teddy Riley and West Coast hero DJ Quik. This fascinating mix of veterans somehow handles everything from the crooked, crip-walking "Gangsta Like Me" to an unbelievably faithful and fun cover of the Time's "Cool" with Snoop singing and strutting just like Morris Day. Throwaway moments like the country song -- for real -- "My Medicine" are balanced by rich and honest moments like "Been Around tha World," where the rapper reminds listeners he's actually married and delivers a heartfelt "I'll be home soon" number. It's the one time his words are the focus, and while it's never clear how much Snoop actually wrote, the ghostwriters he's admitted to hiring have the thug script down and rarely disappoint. What is disappointing is the woefully long track list, the redundant numbers, and the trimming required to keep from drifting off before the majestic closer, "Can't Say Goodbye" with the Gap Band's Charlie Wilson, rolls around. Put a quarter of this loose, hangout session to the side and you've got a great argument that Snoop's transition from hungry gangster to laid-back celebrity and idea man is going much better than expected. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide