Snoop Dogg Presents Tha Eastsidaz
"It's 1999, my nigga," Snoop Dogg asserts on this posse album, which inaugurates his new Dogg House label. The problem isn't so much that its release comes in early 2000, but that the CD sounds like it was cryogenically frozen in late '93 and recently thawed. From its P-Funk samples to the overallDoggystylevibe,Tha Eastsidazowes nearly everything to the classicDeath Rowdays; lyrically, Snoop and crew are likewise stuck in crime-'n'-bitches mode, but with little of the phrase-making skills of his best work. Serviceable at best, this disc sounds even lamer coming after the attitudinal advances ofDr. Dre 2001. Now there's a record maker who knows what time it is.--Rickey Wright