Listening back, it's funny and strange to hear these lost sessions by Snoop Dogg – if only in observation the distance between them and the position that the emcee occupies now. Recorded during his stretch on Death Row Records, this album puts into relief how much times have changed for the emcee in the sixteen years since they were recorded. Dogg says it best himself on his “Soldier Story” introduction to the album as he recounts the first very quick rise and fall of Death Row; with much of the label's stable departed (Dr. Dre had left by then), incarcerated or dead (Tupac Shakur had been murdered), the last man standing was Snoop – he was the one that was keeping the pilot light burning.
That grim resolve is very telling of course, but even more so is the timeline it sits upon; that intro was recorded in 1993 – right around the same time Doggystyle came out – and it's eery to hear it now, particularly with Snoop anticipating the release of a new record with EMI (Malice In Wonderland). From a content standpoint, everything Snoop has released since Death Row plays a far different game than was the case in the early going.
The Lost Sessions are very much a trip back in time for those familiar with the course that Snoop's career has taken in the years since. These demos dig back to the emcee's roots and stick closer to the oral history of gang life in Southern California than any of the other nostalgia tripping albums to be released in the last couple of years. Grainier, dirtier and more ominous than those releases, songs like “Doggystyle,” “Fallin' Asleep On Death Row” and “Eat A D**k” recall the contrast Snoop was drawing between Motown soul and dangerous living and come off as fresh now as they would have when they were originally recorded. Snoop sends chills up spines as, with street language and the flow to bac it up, he knocks out dry-eyed (read: pre-”Murder Was The Case”) tales of sidewalk graveyards, club life and the women of it lining up for a little approval. Snoop's early, nimble phrasing – played out beautifully on Doggystyle – is actually rawer, dirtier and faster here as the emcee just runs (and runs his mouth) through “Keep It Real Dogg” and the original version of “O.G.” but still manages to keep the leashes on enough that, when he spits, it hits hard.
Of course, this record being a compilation of early demos that it's questionable were ever really intended for release, there are a couple of moments that don't fit – even with the other odds-and-ends material here. The very unpolished and rough take of “H**Z,” for example, sounds like a rehearsal caught on tape and, while there are some great lines and ideas in it, it's too rough to really be taken seriously. The same can be said of “Genie,” which just comes off as too novel and soft around the edges.
Moments like that are just the proof that The Lost Sessions were in the vaults for a reason; they were formative takes culled from sessions between 1993 and 1996 (give or take), and may have been intended as demos to be revisited later, but it just never came together that way. Now though, with over a decade of distance between where the emcee's current standing and where he was, The Lost Sessions are interesting because they give further insight into Snoop Dogg's beginnings and some of the turns that started the journey.
Artist:
www2.snoopdogg.com/
www.myspace.com/snoopdogg
Download:
Snoop Doggy Dogg – “O.G.” – Death Row – The Lost Sessions Vol. 1
Snoop Doggy Dogg – “Eat A Dick” – Death Row – The Lost Sessions Vol.1
Album:
Death Row – The Lost Sessions Vol. 1 is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
