Snoop Dogg: Ego Trippin'

Snoop Dogg is a little like Woody Allen. His projects

regularly promise exciting new directions, only to deliver the same old, same

old. The big difference is that late-period Snoop still delivers the goods via

killer singles and solid (though padded) albums. Though it shares its

predecessors' bloated length and quality-control issues, Snoop's newest, Ego

Trippin', largely justifies the new-model

Snoop hype. Snoop surprised and

delighted fans with the single "Sensual Seduction," a rapturous quiet-storm ode

to the female orgasm and that trendy robo-voice-modulator used by Akon and

T-Pain. It even came with an ingeniously lo-fi video that re-imagines the

world's cuddliest Crip as a bargain-basement Prince with serious Jheri Curl

issues.

DJ Quik and New Jack Swing mastermind Teddy Riley, who

mixed many of the tracks, give Ego Trippin'

a cohesive throwback '70s/'80s Sunday-afternoon-barbecue vibe in spite of the

usual preponderance of guest producers. Snoop Dogg steps away from gangsta posturing

in favor of channeling LL Cool J and drawling goodtime party rhymes. He even

gives country a whirl on the shockingly not-terrible "My Medicine." There have

always been innate contradictions in the concept of the superstar gangsta

rapper, but standout tracks like "Sensual Seduction" and "Deez Hollywood Nights"

find Snoop comfortably inhabiting the role of straight-up entertainer, while

the neo-soulful "Waste Of Time" with Raphael Saadiq and "Neva Have 2 Worry"

highlight a more introspective Snoop. Ego isn't exactly tight, but Snoop's silky sonic seduction proves awfully

irresistible.