November 23, 2015

Snoop Dogg "Doggystyle" (The Source, February 1994)


"Snoop had a lot to live up to. Without asking him we all crowned him king. "He was going to be the one," we told ourselves. He was going to be the one to lead us out of the hip hop wasteland. We placed a heavy weight upon his narrow shoulders, and not wanting to disrespect us, he accepted it. Quite a lot of pressure for a new artist. Quite a lot of pressure for a rookie album. It's not his fault that the album took so long to come out. And it was us, not him, who demanded that Doggystyle embody and surpass the best elements of Paid In Full, Straight Outta Compton, Nation of Millions, Adventures of Slick Rick, AmeriKKKas Most Wanted, Low End Theory, The Chronic, Three Feet High and Rising, and Raising Hell. Last year we underestimated Dre and he surprised us. This year we were at the plate and looking for the change-up. We knew about Snoop's vast rap potential, we knew what Dre's music would probably sound like and we also knew that it would be harder to impress us this time around." - The Source. I could go on and recount the full article in The Source, which doesn't give this classic album from Snoop the 5-star merit it probably deserved (now and at the time), but what do you think? Did "Doggystyle" live up to the pressure of all the classics that came before it? Where do you rank it? Read the full Source review below, but decide for yourself!


Save a copy of the 4-mic review of Doggystyle in The Source below...