SNOOP DOGG “Tha Last Meal” Released December 5th 2000

01. Intro (1.20)
02. Hennesey N Buddah w/Kokane (4.12)
03. Snoop Dogg (What’s My Name Pt2) (4.03)
04. True Lies w/Kokane (4.01)
05. Wrong Idea w/Bad Azz, Kokane, Lil’ HD (4.14)
06. Go Away w/Kokane (4.52)
07. Set It Off w/MC Ren, Ice Cube, The Lady Of Rage & Nate Dogg (4.52)
08. Stacey Adams w/Kokane (4.35)
09. Lay Low w/Master P, Nate Dogg, Butch Cassidy, Goldie Loc & Tray Dee (3.43)
10. Bring It On w/Suga Free & Kokane (4.17)
11. Game Court SKIT- Mac Minista (2.10)
12. Issues (2.36)
13. Brake Fluid (Biiittch pump yo brakes) w/Kokane (5.56)
14. Ready 2 Ryde w/Eve (4.21)
15. Losin’ Control w/Butch Cassidy & Soopafly (4.09)
16. I Can’t Swim (4.17)
17. Leave Me Alone (4.12)
18. Back Up Off Me w/Master P & Mr Magic (5.15)
19. Ya’ll Gone Miss Me w/Kokane (4.15) 

PRODUCTION: Dr Dre, Master P, Soopafly, Battlecat, Timbaland, Scott Storch, Jelly Roll, Meech Wells, Michael Elizondo, Studio Tone, Casey Wilson & Carlos Stephens.

BILLBOARD 200 2001 No.4 “Tha Last Meal”
Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums 2001 No.1 “Tha Last Meal”
Hot Rap Singles 2001 No.8 “Lay Low” & “Snoop Dogg”
Rhythmic Top 40 2001 No.17 “Lay Low”

Snoop Dogg born Calvin Broadus in Long Beach California on October 20th 1972 was introduced to the game called rap in the early 90’s by veteran rapper/producer Dr Dre. The pair got together through Dr Dre’s stepbrother, Warren G, where Snoop later became one of the biggest rap stars on the Deathrow Records Label founded by Marion ‘Suge’ Knight & Dr Dre himself. After high success with his debut album in 1993 “Doggystyle” Snoop became well known in the music industry making a name for himself world wide. The second album released on Deathrow in 1996 “Doggfather” lacked the same potential as his debut and the Dogg was in desperate need to revamp his career. In early 1997 Snoop made an appearance on Silkk The Shocker’s “Charge It To the Game” and later appeared on the “I Got The Hook Up” Soundtrack to later go on to sign with the ghetto Bill Gates and Colonel of the tank, Master P. At this time the No-Limit Records tank was on full charge and the signing of already well known rappers such as Mystikal had Master P on the top of the rap game. Snoop departed Deathrow in 1997 and had his first album drop on No-Limit Records in 1998 entitled “Da Game Is To Be Sold Not To Be Told”. The success of this album later saw Snoop regain his reputation that he had once lost in his last days at Deathrow Records with classic tracks such as “Still A G Thang” making the album fresh once again. The No-Limit Tank was rolling now more than ever and the once small and underground Dirty South label had now reached audiences across the globe making it worth millions. Snoop felt the vapours as his career shot up again and critics became much more suprized with the adapting of the LBC native to the Dirty South of New Orleans Southern hospitality. The year that followed had Snoop re-unite with Dr Dre after nearly 6 years on his second album on the tank “No-Limit Topp Dogg” in 1999. The pair had been always looked upon as the greatest team in rap history and was once compared to the legendary dueo of rap legends Eric.B & Rakim. Everywhere fans and media in the music industry praised the move and had high expectations from the LP which resulted in one of the best Snoop albums since his first “Doggystyle” debut in 1993. The album was packed with features on all aspects with production from Dr Dre to DJ Quik and hits such as “***** Please” featuring Nate Dogg & Xzibit made this album a must for Snoop fans.

In late 2000 Big Snoop D.O Double Gizzle came back with his third and final No-Limit album “Tha Last meal”. This album saw the departure of Snoop Dogg from the tank as he had paid the cost to be the boss of his own label Dogghouse Records which was in works with Tha Eastsidaz, which consisted of Tray Deee & Goldie Loc, at the time. The album saw Dr Dre produce a few tracks and mix most of the album up and the features once again in this album were just as good as the last. The album was full of Westcoast funk and P-Funk/G-Funk style of beats as Snoop loves best as most of his attitude as a gangsta return with the ability to pimp the game at the same time. The No-Limit tank slowly faded after this album and Master P found that one by one his soldiers were dismissed.

The album starts off with a banging track produced by the one and only Dr Dre “Hennesey N Buddah”. The track has Dre all over it and the hook by Kokane is tight as the Dogg’s raps and flow are pure gangsta, the best he has performed in a long time. The beat by Dr Dre sounds like it has come straight from the Aftermath Classic Shelf where he picked up the beats for his “2001” album released that year also. This song comes up as one of the best on not only the album but in Snoop’s rap career. Another highlight track by Dr Dre is “Lay Low” which features an extreme line up of artists such as Nate Dogg, Butch Cassidy, Master P, Tray Deee & Goldie Loc. The beat once again is a classic for Dr Dre and the callaboration of these artists on a Dre beat is a multi-platinum hit. Snoop raps on point with his fellow Eastsidaz and even Master P cant resist hittin’ the beat. Nate Dogg spins the hook with his gangsta harmony and Butch Cassidy comes through higher than Snoop, literally, we would imagine. The Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg connection is unstoppable in this song and it would be great to see more of these beats from the history making dueo as this song does make history. Snoop raps through the track with real aggression as he barks on the mic:”Lay low nobody move until’ i say so/Limo tint rollin’ deep like the president. See I dont go to clubs I never chase a biiatch/Im here to bang that gangsta shit til’ the apocalypse. We call it stress some of yall call it chocolate/Return of the top dogg and aint’ no stoppin’ it. Whatever the case I aint’ tryin’ to catch it/Lay low blow big dope and slang records”. At the same time Snoop puts some comedy into his album with “True Lies” with Kokane as he has Ex-President Bill Clinton’s recording of his confession to the affair he had with Monica Lewinski, Snoop ask’s him whether or not he *****ed that *****? The beat done by Dr Dre is phat and the beat is slow yet funky with a little Dre tweaks and sqweaks but the rapping by Snoop is too layed back making this a problem in the album.

As the album continues we discover the special production appearance’s by Timbaland, mostly known for his work with the late Aaliyah and up to date music with Missy Elliot. On the single “Snoop Dogg”, the sequel to 1993’s “What’s My Name”, Timbaland lays a typical beat that only he can do and as unique that it may sound the beat is very catchy along with the chorus. Snoop actually raps a little too smooth again and very laid back as he usually does these days. The track is a club banger though and does get the crowd moving. Timbaland also has the privledge of lacing the beat on the jam packed featured “Set It Off”. The track features veterans MC Ren & Ice Cube and also has Nate Dogg with some gangsta shit and The Lady Of Rage step into the beat with her ‘Afro Puffs’. The beat is very funky and has a good rhythim to it along with the hard rapping performed by all the artists. Ice Cube keeps the song beating with his hook and Timbaland keeps the unique sound fresh & funky. Jelly Roll puts in work on another highlight track “Wrong Idea” with Bad Azz, Kokane & Lil’ HD on the hook. The beat is real Westcoast and Bad Azz rips the mic apart as the LBC get together for a great song that keeps the party up all night no doubt. The raps by Snoop are also gangsta and his flow amazingly is on line with the Jelly beat as it Rolls through. Other’s Jelly Roll hits his sticky fingers on are “Bring It On” with Suga Free pimpin his tight lyrics and Kokane on the hooks again. The beat is quite funky and the raps are pretty good on Snoop’s half. “I Can’t Swim” is a very weird track done by Jelly but the actual beat itself has got an addictive sound making it sound hard and Snoop helps the George Clinton sampled beat to be a P/G-Funk hook up all in one song with gangsta influence.

The Westcoast wouldn’t be complete without Battlecat so obviously he done a track or two which were tight beats but lacked the full effort by Snoop to make it a banger. Tracks such as “Stacey Adams” have a nice mellow Battlecat beat but are spoiled by Kokane’s singing and Snoop’s talking rap. “Leave Me Alone” is a much better beat though Snoop once again ruins all the Battlecat beats especially this one in particular as he sings throughout the track sounding high and there is a feeling that he may even of just sang the song without writing any lyrics, very poor lyrics and one of the downfalls of the album. On another note the album has an uplift from Meech Wells who always seems to put good production down for Snoop and helps his lyrics similar to what Dr Dre manages to pull off. “Issues” & “Go Away” are all a highlights for Meech and Snoop helps the tracks at full Westcoast rhyming & flow as you would expect. “Go Away” does lose a little credit in the lyrics department though as Snoop repeats the 1st verse again on the 3rd.

The album is hit with some Scott Storch beats such as “Brake Fluid” featuring Kokane, nice beat and funky but song lyrically is poor. “Ready 2 Ryde” with Eve makes up for the failure of the other Storch beats as Eve raps real hard and has mad flow. Snoop keeps it gangsta also and the beat has a great touch to it. Storch does produce a nice G-Funk beat to end the album on “Ya’ll Gone Miss Me” featuring Kokane which has Snoop pretty much rap about his time at the tank and the way his life has gone the beat is slow but funked out, officially a goodbye song to the Colonel and the NL tank. Master P did get a turn though with Beats By The Pound C-Los aka Carlos Stephens does a Dirty South Club beat “Back Up Off Me” with P and Magic on the beat, which Snoops voice is clearly not suited for and the bass is too soft for a Dirty South Club beat. Snoop had one for the South and No-Limit fans and also managed to DPGC with Soopafly touching on “Losin’ Control” with Butch Cassidy, a slow beat but Priest does do the job as usual with both raps and production and pulls through for this finale.

The album was 80% full of P & G-Funk style beats and the special touch of Dr Dre, Timbaland, Battlecat, Jelly Roll & Meech Wells most notably make this album a mixed bag of tracks. Snoop has some really tight songs in this album and considering it was his last No-Limit album it has had some work done to it to make it bang as much as possible. His lyrics/flow & raps in general were up and down and the only way he performed good was if he was with a producer he was comfortable with. The Dr Dre beats are banging though and are a must. Its good to hear Dre & Snoop doing their thing but he really needed to cut back on the Kokane, well you know what im saying….overall it was a pretty good album but not his best so in saying that the callabos in all aspects yes were tight….

Rating: 3.5