Neva Left [Bonus Track]

Recording information: Elev8ed Studios; The Compound, Los Angeles, CA.
Heavily nostalgic and yet fully energized, Neva Left continues Snoop Dogg's easy whim-to-whim glide. The photo used for the cover dates back to the early '90s, taken near a sign for the California state route that shares its number with the state's penal code for homicide. A frame from tha Dogg Pound's "New York, New York" video would be just as reflective of the contents. Although their album offers a high quantity of whomping basslines played at relaxed tempos, Snoop demonstrates throughout that he still has love for the East Coast. He raps like Slick Rick as he boasts about "singing like a Tempree," gamely references Whodini, Boogie Down Productions, a Tribe Called Quest, and Wu-Tang Clan elsewhere, while the guest list includes KRS-One, Redman, and Method Man. Snoop even revisits his beeper-era nod to Biz Markie on a "Vapors" remix, one of several cuts handled by long-term associate DJ Battlecat. The cleverest beat combines coastal sources: "Promise You This," from League of Starz' Dupri, dots Too $hort-style minimal machine funk with a little "It Takes Two" as Snoop attests to being a no-talk, all-action self-starter, supporting the community through his youth football league and by putting people to work. The sinister and spacy Kaytranada/BadBadNotGood production "Lavender [Nightfall Remix]" is the best of the cross-generational tracks, which also include the neo-Neptunes "Go On" (with October London on the hook, evoking Marvin Gaye) and the trap-style "Trash Bags," the latter the only beat on which Snoop, otherwise appealing as ever, sounds out of place. ~ Andy Kellman