NEWZ
LYRICZ
30 PHOTOS
30 PHOTOS 2
--INTERVIEW
VIBE 2000
MTV 2000
DOGGY'S ANGELS
--FEATURES
MURDER TRIAL
THA LAST MEAL
NWA REUNION
NOT THESE NIGGAZ AGAIN
UP IN SMOKE TOUR
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
THA EASTSIDE STORY
MOVIE CAREER
SNOOP DOGG FACTS
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
HOME
MAILING LIST
As a concept, this album sounds like it could really be something. Combine the laid-back delivery style of gangsta-rap giant Snoop (no longer Doggy) Dogg with the hard-core and thick-as-molasses production work of No Limit Records' Beats By The Pound pro duction team and lace the entire album with "Dirty South"-ern covers of rap classics. Sounds like fun, right? As it turns out, it isn't.
Songs like "Ain't Nut'in Personal" and "Tru Tank Dogs" are better suited to more forceful-sounding rappers like fellow No Limit soldiers Mystikal and C-Murder, no matter how many times the high-pitched, slithering keyboard sound of hits from Snoop's pas t plays in the background. And when No Limit tries to go g-funk all the way, on songs like "Whatcha Gon Do?" it just sounds like they're using a fakebook of former Snoop collaborator Dr. Dre.
They actually seem to hit the g-funk mark on "Hoes, Money & Clout," until you look at the album credits and read that the song was produced by two of Snoop's old Dogg Pound mates, producer Soopafly with scratches added by Daz Dillinger.
The most disturbing moments of this album are the covers, or "interpolations," as they are called in the rap world these days. Snoop has been no stranger to covering rap classics on his previous albums, taking on Slick Rick's "La-Di-Da-Di" (and re-naming it "Lodi Dodi") on Doggystyle and Biz Markie's "The Vapors" on Tha Doggfather.
But on Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told, he takes on the far-trickier task of covering his own songs with a No Limit twist. The original version of "Gin & Juice" is a certified stone-cold awesome gangsta-rap jam. But the airy and light "Gin & Juice II" on Da Game is a mere caricature wrapped in blasphemy and served up with a side order of travesty.
Dr. Dre and Snoop's lazy-but-forceful "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" helped to define gangsta rap in the mid-'90s, but Da Game's "Still A G Thang" speeds up the beat and keeps the lazy groove, a schizophrenic combination that doesn't serve Snoo p very well as a rapper.
The covers aren't limited to Snoop's earlier work. While he doesn't have the playboy persona to pull off "D.O.G.s Get Lonely 2," a thugged-out version of the Time's "Gigolos Get Lonely Too," he actually does a decent job when he turns his attention to rap classics. "DP Gangsta" slows down N.W.A.'s "Gangsta Gangsta" and subdues its hard beats, giving it a sound that is just as dangerous and engaging as the original (with C-Murder doing a very credible take on Eazy-E's original contribution).
Hip-hop purists will scoff at the mere thought of Snoop covering Boogie Down Productions' "Love's Gonna Getcha," but on "Doggz Gonna Get Ya" the marriage of No Limit and g-funk finally makes sense.
Snoop re-invents the song by replacing KRS-One's barking with a quick-and-slick Dogg delivery over a basic pre-programmed "rap" beat from a $60 keyboard, as the panting of a hound & a harp can be heard in the background. It gives the song a dreamy feel that provides a nice contrast to the song's tale of a kid's descent into drug dealing. The same people who rolled their eyes at Snoop's "Lodi Dodi" will rage against this version, no doubt, but those who can take a more object ive point of view will recognize "Doggz Gonna Get Ya" for what it is, a really good song.
Unfortunately, the highlights on Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told are few and far between. On the whole, it drags & sounds as repetitive and disposable as the legions of other releases from No Limit. Back in the day, Snoop delivered raps about women, weed & weapons that sounded fresh & original. As the newest recruit in the No Limit army, however, he seemingly adjusts his style to fit in with the cool kids, much like a star basketball player continually passing off the ball to help build team morale.
