Published on Jun 25, 1997
It’s been a tough two years for rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg – first
being tried and acquitted on murder charges, then losing labelmate
Dr. Dre in Dre’s dispute with Death Row head Suge Knight, and
losing Tupac Shakur when he was gunned down in Las Vegas in
1996.
Snoop’s problems carry through in his second album,
Tha Doggfather, a weak effort in comparison to his debut
effort
Doggystyle.
The first problem hits the listener in the face almost
immediately – Snoop’s vocals, already low because of his
soft-spoken delivery, are almost non-existent in the mix if you
have your bass blaring. For most of the tape, adjusting your bass
to midrange works… but not always. The mix of this album is
atrocious.
I blame part of the problem in the mix on Dr. Dre – rather, his
absence from this album. Dre’s studio mastery helped add a special
touch to
Doggystyle, and his influence is sorely missed on this
release. If anything, the fact that there are more than five
producers credited to
Tha Doggfather could be a sign of trouble without ever
popping the tape into the deck… too many cooks, you know.
The second problem is with the additional rappers on the album.
You may have read here before that I am not crazy about rappers
bringing in “guest artists” for many tracks – it takes away from
the power of the original rapper. There are some tracks on
Tha Doggfather with so many guests, I don’t even think Snoop
gets a turn on the microphone! Who did I pay to hear, Snoop or Nate
Dogg? Here’s a hint: check the spine of the CD for the answer.
And then, there is the music. While
Doggystyle had catchy melodies with catchy rhymes, such as
tracks like “Gin ‘N Juice” and “What’s My Name,” on
Tha Doggfather, there is none. Even the first single,
“Snoop’s Upside Ya Head,” is weak.
There are a few redeeming moments on
Tha Doggfather – namely, the title track and “Up Jump Tha
Boogie” – but these are too few and far between. Ironically, the
best moment of the entire tape comes on a filler – “When I Grow
Up,” where Snoop admonishes a young man for wanting to follow in
Snoop’s footsteps. Possibly a warning to the youth of today – as if
Shakur’s murder wasn’t enough – that the gangsta life isn’t as
glamorous as the rappers make it out to be?
Another good track is “Vapors,” a piece which seems to trace the
histories of young black men who people thought would never amount
to anything. These men, of course, turn out to be Snoop and his
friends. But, the message is a positive one, and the track is well
performed.
Many artists hit what is known as the “sophomore slump”, where
their follow-up albums pale in comparison to their first works.
Snoop Doggy Dogg proves that rap is not immune to this slump. Snoop
is a very talented artist and will undoubtedly rebound to produce
many great records, but
Tha Doggfather isn’t one of those.