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SNOOP DOGG
R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece Star
Trak/Geffen
**

Every few years, Snoop Dogg takes time out from his many other enterprises to bang out another album. Sometimes, the world stops to take a look and sometimes, it shrugs and moves on. With R&G: The Masterpiece, there may well be a bit of gawking because it's the first since Snoop jumped the hoops with the Neptunes and signed to their Star Trak label. What this means in practice is the best track here by a country mile is the Snoop and Pharrell hook-up, Drop It Like It's Hot, while the rest of the material, despite a dogg pound of guests and producers and some controversy-baiting tunes like Can You Control Ya How, just doesn't get off the ground. Even Snoop's voice sounds tired and listless, purring when it should be growling. A real dogg of an album.

www.snoppdogg.com