With the imminent release of Snoop Dogg‘s 11th studio album “Doggumentary” (stateside March 29th) the star pulled out all the stops at his recent preview staged in Los Angeles to coincide with the NBA All-Star Weekend at Capitol Records Studio in Hollywood. Intended to be a listening session to showcase the many collaborations that make up the album, the event took on a party atmosphere with scantily clad promotion girls, free beer, energy drinks and a huge band of caterers serving up beef, pork and vegetarian barbecue. The rapper, decked out in his favourite team, The LA Lakers’ colours of purple and orange, presided over the proceedings from a central podium reportedly alternating between rapping, dancing, smoking and revealing the inspiration and chemistry behind each track as they were introduced.
The assembled guests were treated to a total of 21 tracks, featuring guest stars such as Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, R. Kelly, John Legend, E-40, Young Jeezy and music legends Willie Nelson and Bootsy Collins. Whilst on the production end, Snoop Dogg has enlisted the likes of West, Battlecat, Lex Luger, David Banner and Scoop Deville to give the album the flavour that he was looking for
The self-proclaimed “Doggfather” also revealed that the title of the album was a natural product of the recording process as he explained to reporters that the process took on a documentary feel inspired by the music and videos he’s churned out thus far in his already epic career. “I thought, let’s put the two G’s there and make it more,”‘ It’s just me doing me.”
Amongst the previewed tracks that sparked the crowd were the single “Wet”, the Battlecat-produced “Wonder What It Do”, “Platinum” featuring R. Kelly and Snoop’s own Randy Newman-esque nod to the City of Angels, “L.A”, produced by Deville.
Of Wiz Khalifa who comes aboard on “The Weed Is Mine” Snoop said “Our connection is so natural” and Kanye West who produced the introspective “Eyes Closed,” which features John Legend came in for high praise “He’s next-level genius; one of the dopest MF’s to ever make music. When he cries about losing awards, he deserves that shit. I’ll cry, too.”
The biggest cheer of the night came for the album’s most left-of-centre track “Superman” Accompanied by guitar and harmonica, Snoop and Willie Nelson trade riffs on living life with the hands they’ve been dealt and realizing, “I’m not Superman.”The idea to work together apparently formed when the two artists found themselves in Amsterdam doing shows there. “We got some studio time and wrote this song,” said Snoop. “It’s some cold, classic shit.”
Judging by the reaction of the lucky few who were witness to the preview/party that would certainly seem to be the case.
