Death Row's Greatest Hits (Explicit) Review

07/13/2005 7:37 AM, AMG


When it came time for the cash-strapped Death Row Records to repackage Snoop Dogg's Doggy Dogg-era, this time to coincide with a string of the rapper-turned-actor's Hollywood ventures, Suge Knight and Co. decided to mix a few classics with a sizable serving of leftovers and market it as a best-of. The long-titled Death Row's Snoop Doggy Dogg Greatest Hits compilation aims to please all, though risks pleasing none as a result. As you'd expect from a greatest-hits comp, it offers most of the essentials: "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang," "Gin & Juice," "Murder Was the Case," "Doggy Dogg World," and "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" But unlike you'd expect from a greatest-hits comp, it also offers a half-album's worth of rarely heard vault recordings and also a pair of remixes: a Timbaland remake of "Doggfather" and a rock-rap one of "Snoop Bounce." The vault recordings aren't poor at all; in fact, they're worthwhile listening for all Doggy Dogg-era Snoop fans. But they're certainly not on a par with "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" or "Gin & Juice," and that makes this randomly sequenced compilation rather uneven. All griping aside, this is a welcome release on behalf of Death Row, at least until a true Snoop best-of surfaces. After all, the label had only two Snoop albums to choose from -- Doggystyle (1993) and Tha Doggfather (1996) -- yet also a lot of leftovers to repackage, so this compilation makes sense. And it also makes sense from a marketing perspective, because it's a disc all Snoop fans will want, both casual ones and diehards. It certainly doesn't supplant the classic Doggystyle, which is essential, but it does make for a nice, if unnecessary, complement. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide