Album Preview: Snoop Dogg - 'Ego Trippin''
staging-rapup.kinsta.cloud brings you an exclusive look at Snoop Dogg’s ninth studio album Ego Trippin’, which drops March 11th. We were one of the select outlets invited to preview the Doggfather’s latest offering on a Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles. We escaped the rain and headed inside Chalice Studios where we spotted Lindsay Lohan and pal Samantha Ronson hanging out in a nearby studio.
By now you’ve heard the song and seen the video for Snoop’s first single “Sensual Seduction.” Snoop takes the concept of rhythm and gangsta to a whole new level on Ego Trippin’, which was overseen entirely by the QDT Music Group comprised of DJ Quik, Snoop, and Teddy Riley. The result is one of Snoop’s most colorful albums to date. Check out our track-by-track preview below.
Snoop’s A&R Ted Chung (who also appears on Snoop’s E! reality show “Father Hood”) was there to play each track from his laptop. He explained that Snoop didn’t want to reach out beyond his own “sphere” of music with this album. His original intent was to produce and write everything himself, which evolved into making a more “homegrown” album based upon his personal musical influences. This led to the entire project being overseen by DJ Quik, Snoop, and Teddy Riley. Snoop has always been a fan of Teddy Riley (his favorite group in high school was Guy) and they met up when they were both honored at “VH1 Hip-Hop Honors” last year. DJ Quik came in as the finisher and mixed every track on the album.
1. “Press Play”
Produced by DJ Quik for QDT Music Group
Opening track on the album featuring a heavy, hard bass line. A female voice repeats, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” Snoop reminds the listener that he’s still doing what he does best—”Ballin'” on some “gangsta shit.” “Big Snoop Dogg he a boss like that,” he raps. Snoop shouts out many West Coast artists like his DPG crew and Dr. Dre.
2. “SD is Out” featuring Charlie Wilson
Produced by Teddy Riley
Opens with Charlie Wilson singing in a T-Pain-esque voice: “Snoop Dogg is out. You wanna be there partying, all night long until the break of dawn.” Heavy bass sound, but with a laid-back, sexy vibe. Snoop raps about the glamorous club life: “I shine like a million lights.” “Pose like a superstar, walk like a model, pop it like a bottle,” Snoop commands.
3. “Gangsta Like Me”
Produced by Teddy Riley
It starts with loud gunshots and a vocoded voice. The beat has an Indian flute sound similar to 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop.” The hook features a female and Snoop going back and forth. Female voice sings, “Never met a gangsta like you…but I think I like you… Take me home.” Snoop responds, “You can’t be wifey.” Sounds like a typical story of an obsessed groupie.
4. “Neva Have 2 Worry” featuring Uncle Chucc
Produced by Niggaracci (Snoop and Terrace Martin)
Uncle Chucc sings the hook: “I made some mistakes to become the G that I am today. I’m too high in the clouds to ever have to worry about that.” Song starts with Snoop reflecting back upon his career: “15 years in the game and I’m still relevant. It’s a blessing.” Introspective look back at Snoop’s career. Addresses calling women hoes, chalks it up partially to freedom of speech. A saxophone can be heard at the end.
5. “Sensual Seduction”
Produced by Shawty Redd
First single. A Snoop classic in the making. If you haven’t heard it, listen below.
6. “Life of Da Party” featuring Too $hort and Mistah F.A.B.
Produced by Scoop deVille
Fast, up-tempo party song and the second single. Too $hort raps, “I’m the life of tha party. Don’t take much for me to get started. I’m the life of tha party. I got 10 bad bitches acting retarded.” Mistah F.A.B. raps on the hook: “I’ll pose for your picture, cheese, cheese, cheese. Now freeze, freeze, freeze.” Ends with Too-$hort’s signature, “Bitch!”Â
7. “Ridaman”Â
Produced by Niggaracci
“Uncle Snoopy, can you please tell us a gangsta story?” a child asks in a chipmunk-sounding voice. Hook follows the Spiderman theme: “Ridaman, ridaman. Does whatever a rida can. Bust a gat in your side… Look out, bitch. Here comes the ridaman!” Talks about the West Coast lifestyle: “40 oz., smoking blunts, Levi’s jeans.” The song has a sound and flow like Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story.”
8. “Those Gurlz”Â
Produced by Scoop deVille
Samples the Bee Gees’ “Too Much Heaven” (listen below). Mid-tempo, spring/summer, laid-back vibe. Story of a girl who moved down to “L.A. from the Bay.” Snoop contends for the one-liner of the year with the lyric, “I’m about to eat your cat up like Heathcliff.” Typical story of a rapper chasing girls, girls, girls. This is our favorite track off the album aside from “Sensual Seduction.” It’s also a contender for a single.
9. “Staxxx in My Jeans”Â
Produced by Rick Rock
Starts with a chopped and screwed voice. The hook goes, “My pockets look like Rerun, your pockets look like Raj,” referencing the “What’s Happening!!” characters, Rerun and Raj. Heavy bass, hustler’s anthem, hard sound. “You got some shit to tell, I got some shit to sell.” “Being broke’s a drag.” Another classic one-liner from Snoop: “One time I told a bitch not to come back until she had $2,000 in $2 bills.”
10. “Whateva You Do”Â
Produced by Khao
Name checks Supahead and Ray J: “Ain’t that a bitch like Ray J, I got ‘One Wish’.” The hook goes, “We got that chronic, chronic. We got that whateva you do.” Most memorable lyric: “Spend dough at the Gucci store, I never spent dough on no coochie though.” An ’80s synthesizer sounds in the background mixed with heavy West Coast bass beats. Bouncing, up-tempo, crashing noise. DPG-type music features Khao’s signature sound found on T.I.’s “Why You Wanna.”
11. “Been Around Tha World” featuring Tone
Produced by Niggaracci
Dedicated to Snoop’s wife, Shante Broadus. Opens with “This record is for my baby, my baby boo.” Female singer named Tone sings the hook: “Been around the world, I done been to many places, seen some unfamiliar faces, but baby none of them compare to you. Soon as I get home, I’m racing to unplug my phone.” Raps about traveling around the world—Sydney, Tokyo, Monaco, Las Vegas: “I’m a boss at the Wynn. I cracked every color dice.”Â
12. “Breathe In, Breathe Out”Â
Produced by Teddy Riley
Opens with the sound of a gong. The hook: “Doggy Dogg is all you need.” Sped up, fast flow.
13. “Can’t Say Goodbye” featuring Charlie Wilson
Produced by Teddy Riley
Charlie Wilson sings on this mid-tempo track accompanied by piano keys. Snoop: “I can’t say goodbye to the ‘hood, to the blocks, to the streets.” Talks about how he got out of the ‘hood but his mind hasn’t left it. Introspective song where the Dogg reflects on life’s pressures. Critics are wrong, Snoop raps, “the old me never left.” Charlie Wilson sings: “I’m a man. I gotta take care of my family. These streets won’t say goodbye.” Snoop: “Wouldn’t be right if I ignored the shit that made me who I am.” Song builds at the end. Last line: “You can take the man out the streets, but you can’t take the streets out the man.” An orchestra will be added to the final version. One of Snoop’s most powerful and emotional songs. Our third favorite cut on Ego Trippin’.