Coming just about a year after his
Pharrell Williams
-helmed album
Bush
landed as a conceptual, dank disco triumph,
Snoop Dogg
returned with this 2016 back-to-basics effort,
Coolaid
, which is as comfortable as it is cool. Without the crip walking and crime bossing of his early years, the varied and mainstream LP falls right in line with
Snoop
's 2004 effort
R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
, offering a cavalcade of stars and numerous radio-worthy party tracks.
Swizz Beatz
is the album's executive-producing anchor and surprisingly helms one of the album's most G-funk-sounding cuts, the grinding "Let Me See Em Up," which sounds like an old-school anthem combined with massive post-dubstep bass. Still, it's newcomer
Bongo
who steals the show with his tropical beat on "Point Seen Money Gone," an outstanding highlight that reminds listeners that the veteran MC's
Snoop Lion
alias wasn't just a dream. Bringing reminders of another alias,
Snoopzilla
, highlight "My Carz" features a
Gary Numan
-sampling beat from the late
J Dilla
, while producer
Daz Dillinger
represents the early days on the gangsta-leaning and easy "Oh Na Na" with
Wiz Khalifa
.
Cardo
takes it further on "Affiliated," which sounds like the dead
Death Row
label came alive in 2016, plus the track is arguably the album's most lyrically ambitious effort as
is fired up and challenged by the underground favorite
Trick Trick
. By the time the one-joke "Kush Ups" rolls around with a second
appearance, an argument could be made that the 20-track album is overstuffed, but
's conceptual larks and concept albums have taken over the last decade. Consider this an exciting double-LP throwback that drops "Even if I die, living legend" during the opening cut and then just gets bigger and bolder from there. ~ David Jeffries