Snoop Dogg will forever be an icon within hip-hop as a young Long Beach who, under the wing of Dr Dre, blossomed into a thriving businessman. As the current owner of Death Row, Snoop Dogg has come full circle in his career and now holds the keys to the label that made him.
That said, once Snoop Dogg got his foot in the door, he ensured he wasn’t beholden to Suge Knight. By the time Death Row dissipated in 1998, Snoop could carry on his musical journey and release material on his terms.
Snoop Dogg, unlike his counterpart Dr Dre has released an unfathomable amount of music and is truly an artist. Only in the last decade has the California act begun to take on management roles because, unlike Dre, Broadus has always focused more on producing music as opposed to being an executive who facilitates the release of other people’s music. Upon leaving Death Row, Snoop instantly looked to diversify his sound, worked with many different producers during the 2000s and saw vast success alongside the Neptunes.
Snoop has worked alongside many artists over the years, including Wiz Khalifa, T-Pain and Juicy J. However, it would be foolish to say that his best music was made during the 2010s. Snoop arguably reached his peak in the 2000s. Any true fan of the rapper would say that his ninth studio album Ego Trippin was when the quality of his music and relevance as an artist began to wane. It was released in 2008.
Irrespective of the fact that he may have been creatively working within the narrow parameters of G-funk, it is undeniable that Snoop’s albums were some of his best while he was a part of Death Row. Aside from his debut body of work, Doggystyle, his sophomore album, Tha Doggfather, is his best. To many people’s surprise, the project had no input from Dr Dre. It was made and recorded while the G-funk pioneer was establishing Aftermath Entertainment. As such, it was produced (mainly) by Daz Dillinger. One of the project’s highlights is ‘Gold Rush’, which features Kurupt and the LBC Crew. You can hear the isolated vocals of the track in the video below,
