Iz It a Crime?
“I can write the words, but the music has to match the energy,” Snoop Dogg tells Apple Music. “And it just feels like when we own that shit on the West, we great at that shit.” Since his 2022 acquisition of Death Row Records, he has wasted little time in repositioning the infamous record label that propelled him to stardom. From bringing on new R&B signees JANE HANDCOCK and October London to facilitating the returns of Tha Eastsidaz and Tha Dogg Pound, as well as seemingly riskier moves like blockchain drops and a gospel compilation, Snoop’s updated model benefits from having him at the center. “I was on this label when it was started and I seen all the pluses and the things that worked,” he says. “I seen the things that hadn’t been tapped into. So as I hold it as the owner, it’s my job to give it life, to give it love.” Following last December’s long-awaited Dr. Dre reunion *Missionary*, the ever-entrepreneurial Long Beach native drops a sizable solo album that merges West Coast rap nostalgia with the modern touches expected from an industry impresario. *Iz It a Crime?* not only nods to the Sade classic liberally sampled on its probing title track, but more broadly addresses a worldview that comes from lived experience, as a man and as an artist. “I’ve never been afraid to try different things when it comes to music, because that’s what music is,” he says. “It’s a universal language of all people. And once you’ve mastered a craft of your voice and who you are, you should be able to do any style of music when you want.” Furthermore, his latest comes at a time of existential triumph for Los Angeles hip-hop, a scene for which he serves as a long-standing load-bearing pillar. “The original West Coast sound was drug-related gang-bang music that made you act ignorant,” he says. “It was that sound of representation, like wherever you was from, what part of the city, what gang you was from.” One can hear Snoop’s proud ownership of that history on “Joy,” a bombastic series of slickly executed references, and on “Sophisticated Crippin’,” a laidback throwback teeming with success-story energy. As he emphasizes that elder-statesman swag, he also brings in fresher faces like LaRussell (“Can’t Wait”) and Sexyy Red (“Me N OG Snoop”), both to share the spotlight and to double down on his legacy-building enterprise. Yet *Iz It a Crime?* feels truly special when he’s reconnecting with older hitmaking pals, vibing luxuriously with Wiz Khalifa on “Just the Way It Iz” and retooling the funk on “Spot” with Pharrell Williams, a longtime collaborator. “I love music,” Snoop says. “I don’t feel like I am just a slouch or a pushover. I feel like I’m a great musician and a great voice.”
The 21st album from America’s affable, couch-locked uncle balances occasionally tight songwriting with some utterly bizarre choices.