Snoop Dogg - Coolaid

The Guardian 60

(Doggystyle Records/eOne)

Last year Snoop Dogg abandoned his unconvincing and brief Snoop Lion rasta persona to go back to basics for Bush, a model of what an old man rap album should be. But Coolaid finds him pivoting again, replacing avuncular barbecue charm with Snoop’s most aggressive delivery ever. The first half has him snarling over gnarly beats to mixed effect: Let Me See Em Up and Just Blaze’s irresistible DJ Mustard impression on Super Crip go legitimately hard, but Snoop needn’t and shouldn’t imitate Kanye West’s hyper-intense bark, as on Legend. The weightless Light It Up and the Missy/Timbaland throwback Got Those are better, but ultimately length scuppers Coolaid. Its back half loses coherence as Snoop retreats to a default of weed anthems.