It's August 31, 2025, 03:04:18 PM
Compton did 295k 1st weekOk it was 9 years ago when sales were better but stilla Dre/Snoop reunion album should’ve done at least half that, no?
At the very least
the era is no different than when compton droppedmany artists are still pushing units
y’all need to stop caping for this unfortunate turn of events
it’s an isult to the greatest hip hop production icon of all time to say “he should expect to debut behind rap albums that have been out for months!!”
Yeah this confirms it, you don't understand a thing about today's sells"unfortunate turn of events" lolBro it's like you just woke up from some looong ass sleep and somehow missed all the discussions people had about this album and Snoop and Dre in general and now acting like that numbers weren't expected or is a shock to anybody. And btw Dre was totally fine with dropping flops with Anderson Paak, despite Paak being much more relevant than Snoop. It didn't break his spirit or anything. And those albums had a MASSIVE promo and Dre was a huge part of it (he even appeared on the cover).
go to sleep homie anderson paaks 5th album in 5 years didn’t have the same hype around it as a snoop and dre reunion you doin way too much my dude
Still: Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg More than three decades after the game-changing Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre reunite for Missionary—a project they believe fills a void in today's hip-hop.When Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg ask you to fly from Hong Kong to Los Angeles with less than 24 hours' notice to interview them—you say yes. Well, first, you hyperventilate in the streets of Hong Kong, have a mini existential crisis, and then drop everything and hop on the next 13-hour flight home to LA. It’s Dre and Snoop, after all—two living legends whose collaborative project, Missionary (officially Snoop’s 20th solo album), delivers the final, hard-hitting mic drop to cap off a year of undeniable victory for the West.I pulled up to a hidden studio in Los Angeles, discreetly tucked between industrial warehouses and surrounded by massive trucks. Walking inside, I immediately felt a different vibe than when I first met them months prior in London. There stood the iconic duo: Dre and Snoop, moving like they’d never left the ’90s. Missionary blasted through the speakers as they two-stepped in sync—a glass of gin in Dre’s hand, a blunt in Snoop’s—and a classic drop-top Cadillac parked casually in the background. There was a palpable synergy between them—something you could feel in the air—a brotherhood solidified by decades of tribulations and triumphs. Watching them pose for photos later felt like stepping back to the era when every street corner in Compton and beyond echoed with their music.Missionary is the sonic reunion we’ve all been waiting for, a powerful testament to the indelible chemistry Snoop and Dre have cultivated over decades. Their bond, first solidified 31 years ago on Doggystyle, has matured and evolved, and this new project is the proof. Sure, Missionary has echoes of Snoop’s legendary debut, but don’t get it twisted: They’re not trying to chase the ghosts of the past. This is a bold leap into the next chapter of their GOAT journey. Unconcerned by the inevitable comparisons to the past, the duo is focused on crafting something that’s of the moment but also timeless. "We think about perfection amongst ourselves,” said Snoop. “We’re competing against us."After our conversation, their purpose came into sharp focus. This wasn’t the same duo we first met during Doggystyle—young and hungry, staking their claim in the game. Now, they’re seasoned architects of hip-hop. Entrepreneurs. Super Bowl halftime performers. Living legends. Snoop has transformed into America’s sweetheart, while Dr. Dre reigns as one of music’s most successful moguls. This time, their hunger felt different—deeper, untethered from accolades or commercial validation. They’re not chasing charts; they’re carving out something singular. As Snoop told me: "We always fill the void when we make music. We’re putting back the sound we created under his direction—and that’s exactly what we did." Missionary delivers on that promise with old-school West Coast flavor tinged with maturity and groove that only Dre and Snoop could deliver. And trust me, they popped out and showed n*ggas how it's done, just like we do on the West Coast.JHW: The world has been begging for this reunion since Doggystyle 30 years ago. I know you've heard this question a lot, but I want to know: Why now?Snoop Dogg: Why not? Not why.Dr. Dre: That was going to be my answer. Not why, why not?SD: We still in our prime. We still good at what we do and we just felt like we always fill the void when we make music. We trying to put back the sound that we created under his direction and that's what we're doing. We're putting it back in the scene again.DD: And it's also all about timing. For some reason it just clicked for now. I'm doing some amazing music right now. And Snoop, he stays on his grind. Everybody knows what it is with his energy and his commitment and his work ethic and everything.JHW: Snoop, you said you're filling a void. Can you talk about what that void is?SD: That void is Dr. Dre's sound. When Dr. Dre makes music, his music don't sound like nobody else's music. And it's a uniqueness about his sound that me and him make together and I'm just honored to still be able to do it at a high level and for him to be able to produce me.DD: And also this is a different way of working, to be honest with you. I think it took maybe 20 years for Snoop to allow me to work with him this way. And the way we produced the record and the way we did the writing and the music and the whole nine is a different way of us working. And I think the audience is going to really get another taste for the next saga of what we're doing. Especially making hip-hop records at this age, and it's the shit. So yeah, you're going to get another dose of us that I think is going to be really impressive.JHW: You said it's a different way of working. Can you paint the picture of what the process looked like and how it was different from making Doggystyle?SD: I can paint it. Doggystyle was me being raw, him learning me and figuring me out and producing me.DD: And I was still learning during that time as well.SD: This is him on the top of his game producing for me. Not making a beat for me, but producing the whole song, every element of the song from how I say it to what I say to the way I say it, to the coming back in doing ad-libs, to making sure that it sounds right. Like your projection of your vocals, listening to every fucking word. ‘No, you got to come back and say this word like this because your energy wasn't right.’ And when we listened to it back, I fucking love it because it challenged me and it put me in a position of where I've never been. People work with me and be like, ‘Oh, that shit was dope.’ This nigga be like, ‘Nope, do it again. Do it again until it's perfection.’DD: Yeah. And I feel like the first time we worked together on Doggystyle, I was still green. I was still learning the SSL mixing board and still learning how the musicality of everything was going. I was still learning. So I got it now. I always say, nobody's ever mad at humility. I'm better now. I'm so much better than I was when we did Doggystyle. People are going to understand that when they hear the music.JHW: So the process of sending him beats, do you send it to him and then he approves it?SD: No way. We in the same room. For everything. Sometimes the beat is made right there on the spot and then we create the song on the spot. We are not on that ‘give me a beat and I'm going to put a verse to it and send it back to you.’DD: That ain't how we work. There’s a synergy. We are in the room together from ground up. That's how it works.SD: From intro to endo.JHW: Speaking of intimacy, the album is called Missionary. The last one was Doggystyle. Is it called Missionary because it’s more intimate and vulnerable?SD: He named both albums. He's the credit. Give this motherfucker with his nasty ass. I'm all grown and shit and you going to pull me right back.JHW: Were there any other positions or names being considered for the title?SD: I was going to call it “Cowgirl,” but he didn't really want that. No, I’m fucking with you. That's not true.JHW: So missionary was always the top?DD: Yeah. Why not? I think it's fucking fun and funny as shit. We're just having fun and being creative. That's what this whole shit is about. That's just being in the studio together.JHW: So when we were talking earlier, you said no, this is Snoop's album, but you are a huge part of it. So when you produce an album, do you not consider yourself a part of that collaboration?DD: I'm a part of it, absolutely.JHW: So you don't want to take ownership of the album?DD: No. I'm the producer and I like to play the background. I don't even know why I'm here doing this shit. This is his album.SD: But the thing is, Dr. Dre, when we get together, because people like to hear us rap together. We got a couple of songs on there and we’re rapping together. That's the part that he don't be understanding is that people love me, but they love us when we are together.DD: It’s different when we are together.SD: It’s a stronger love. I can do a lot by myself, but when I'm with you it's like I can be Robin and let you be Batman. You know what I'm saying? I can kick back.DD: Yeah. We know what it is. Everybody loves it when we're together. There's a certain synergy that comes together when we get on stage or when we get in the studio together. It's just some kind of magic that happens. I realized this when we were working on “Nuthin' but a ‘G’ Thang” and it was this one part that came in when I realized how much our vocals work together. And I'm like, oh shit, this is like a synergy or something that is really fucking special. So I just ran with it from there.JHW: Would you say it was difficult or challenging to create this album knowing how high the fan expectations are?SD: No, we don't ever go into a record thinking about that. We think about perfection amongst ourselves. We are competing against us. This nigga don't even listen to anything that we did that’s old. So you don't never have to worry about that with him. I was playing our old record today, he said, ‘Man, turn that shit off and put on our new shit.’DD: Yeah, that just happened today. I don't listen to any of the songs I've ever made since 1985, which is when I started. I don't even allow my family or anybody to play that shit around me. I think that just the process of recording is what I really enjoy. Just recording the albums, and I'm listening to it enough while we're recording, and when we finish recording, I wake up listening to that shit once it comes out. I'm ready to listen to the next shit.JHW: Not even for nostalgia?DD: Maybe later when I'm kicking it with my grandkids or something like that. Maybe I might go back and start listening to the trajectory from 1985 and how my skills developed along the way. That would be much more entertaining for me to listen to what I was doing from then until now. And really listening to how my skills developed along the way. I think that would be more entertaining for me.SD: Do you think your music sounds better now?DD: Yes.SD: I don't.DD: I think I'm making the best shit ever.SD: I do too, but I think some of your old music is fucking amazing.If he don't listen to his old music, that means he ain't listening to the music that’s out either. So his shit don’t sound like nobody’s. This nigga make records for what's in for him, no matter what's going on outside.DD: Yeah. I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody right now, but I'm not really inspired by what's happening with hip-hop these days. It's not for me. I've always said I'm not going to disrespect it or anything like that, but I haven't heard anything that makes me go fuck, why didn't I do that? I haven't heard that in a long time, which makes my job easy to be honest."I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody right now, but I'm not really inspired by what's happening with hip-hop these days." –Dr. DreJHW: Do you remember the last person or last album that you heard that you were inspired by?SD: Stevie Wonder’s [Songs in the] Key of Life? [Laughs.]DD: Well, if you're talking about new shit, I would say good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar were the last hip-hop albums that inspired me.JHW: So if you guys could point to one moment from this album that makes you're super proud of it, what would that be?SD: It's a song called “Sticky Situation.” I had to fight to get this song on the album.DD: No you didn't.SD: Yeah, I did. It was in the other files and then I brought it back and then this n*gga mixed the fuck out of it. But it sound like a classic Dr. Dre song.DD: I fucks with it now. I would say mine is another song that I almost took off the album, but Snoop said he would shoot me if I did. It's called “Now or Never.” I think that's one of the two songs that I appear on vocally and I really fuck with that now. His delivery and the lyrics and the way he came off on that one, I would say that was one of the ones that's really impressive to me.JHW: Why were you going to take it off?DD: Because it's really slow and much more mellow than the rest of the songs on the album. And I wanted to make it so every song on this album could be performed live. And this isn't one of those songs, but it's good enough to be on the record.SD: Well, that's the song that made me cry. No songs that I ever made made me cry. Real shit.DD: I never heard you say that. This n*gga getting mushy.SD: No, no, not like that. ’Cause we was at the little thing with Interscope when we was playing the record and they had asked me, ‘What song means the most to you?’ And I said that record. And I played it, and when I played it, the motherfucker made me cry. There's certain shit that's being said in that verse that's deep to me.DD: Yeah, I agree with that. I fucks with it because the way the vocals move, it's a rollercoaster ride. And BJ The Chicago Kid came through on the hook and he made it sound amazing. That's the bridge between Snoop's verse and my verse and that made me say, okay, alright, that goes on the album. Along with the threat Snoop gave me.JHW: Snoop, what do you think was important when you were making Doggystyle that's not important anymore?SD: I didn't have no importance with Doggystyle, my importance was staying free. I was going through some legal things at the time. So my focus was just trying to be the dopest rapper that I can be. Me and Dr. Dre was having so much fun drinking gin in the studio, mixing and mingling. I was in the moment. It wasn't about importance, none of that shit. I was just a young rapper following his direction, just like I'm an old rapper following his direction.JHW: And there's also a song with Sting. I know he's become your mentor, Snoop. How did that relationship develop?SD: Well, I've been a fan of Sting since I was a kid, so when we did the record, it was an interpolation of his song and we was thinking who could we get on it, and we said we might as well go after Sting. And when we sent it to him, that motherfucker sent the record back how fast?DD: I don’t know. We were just trying to get the song cleared and he sent us a song back with his vocals on it.SD: He sound harder than me on that. I'm like, damn Sting, you cold-blooded with this shit. To me, it shows the growth of who I am and where I'm at to have a duet with somebody like that.DD: Yeah, Sting is one of our heroes and it was amazing for him to jump on the song. And he actually sang our lyrics that he wrote. So it is amazing that he was down to do that.JHW: That's incredible. What has he taught you, being your mentor and collaborating on this with you?SD: I had got a chance to spend time with him on The Voice and I learned how to be a better listener from him. Even at the stage of his career, he was still able to listen and receive information. So I like that about him, and I'm still able to do the same thing to take my star and say put that shit to the side and go back to being a student for a minute.JHW: A question about “Pressure,” because it revisits your inspiration from Slick Rick. How has his writing still resonated with you nearly 40 years later?SD: The way Dr. Dre used my voice as an instrument was key on some of these records and the style definitely was created by Slick Rick, and I'm good at emulating it and getting close to it and having my own version of it. I just feel like Dr. Dre knows how to use my voice like an instrument rather than just rap on this song. ‘No, give me some personality on this song.’ ‘Nah n*gga, your energy wasn't right.’ ‘Nah, you should say it like this.’DD: And we're both fans of Slick Rick in a major way, and we know that’s one of Snoop's heroes.SD: Dr. Dre laid the ref to that. You oughta hear his version of that.DD: No, she can't hear that. I'm rapping trying to sound like Snoop on the ref. You'll never hear that.JHW: Snoop, you and Meth were like all-stars in the ’90s. How did it feel to bring him on “Skyscraper”?SD: Man, Dr. Dre love Meth like I love Meth. So it was an easy call. I've maintained a relationship with Method Man since ’93. So this is like my family member. So to be able to call somebody and say, Meth, we need to get you on this track because you my peer, I don't really want nobody young on this. I want my peer, somebody that I naturally love and respect that Dr. Dre respects as well. And he went in, he went bodyguard hard.DD: We had him on the Zoom. I said, ‘Listen man, I saw you fucking bench pressing, you look strong.’ I said, ‘You look like you could bench press a Prius.’ And he just actually came through for us. We have a short movie for the release of Snoop's album called Missionary and Method Man came through just the other day and did all the voiceovers for us.JHW: Oh, I'm excited to see that. Can you share more about the short?DD: So the concept is me and Snoop, we're basically hit men and vigilantes and we solve problems for people that can't go to the cops. And we're telepathic and we can hear what everybody's thinking. And we're just using this music shit. For example, this interview, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, we're just using that as a cover to cover up what we really do for a living.JHW: Is there some truth behind this?SD: We do make hits. [Laughs.]. We are hit men.JHW: On the song with Method Man, you rapped: “Raise a glass for the coast, we the last of the GOATs.” What do you mean by that?DD: I got to hear the answer to this.SD: You have to know what it is. It's only very few of us around, and we know who we are and we respect each other. Just the other day, we was on a interview with KRS-One and Kurtis Blow. Those are GOATs. They're the last of the GOATs, and we're the last of the GOATs. So everybody that's under that moniker know who they are. Those who haven't got to that status going to feel some kind of way,DD: Hopefully, in my opinion, we're not the last of the goats, and there's another fucking Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and Eminem and Ice Cube in their fucking bedroom or in their garage right now. It's like a 16-year-old kid that's going to come out and do some shit that's even bigger and more spectacular than what we've ever done. And I feel like that's the case right now. There's probably some kid right now banging on his drum machine, a keyboard, that's going to do some shit that is going to make us go like,What the fuck is that?’SD: Yeah, he or she is out there.JHW: And there's no one that you feel is semi-close to that GOAT status?DD: Right now? As far as production and writing goes, as far as hip-hop goes in the whole shit, to be perfectly honest with you: No. I don't mean that to be disrespectful in any way about anybody that's doing their thing. That's just my truth.JHW: So Snoop said, “Fuck being lyrical, I’m a walking miracle.” What inspired that line?SD: Because sometimes the lyrics get lost, especially in the industry right now. Lyrics aren't that upfront. It's more about jingles and whatnot. So we want to let it be known what it really is, and what it's really about. If you're really an MC, this is what matters. Your song structure, your bars, the way you deliver, your timing, your cadence, all of that shit matters. We from the old school. We from the birth of hip-hop. So just trying to reassure people that when you listening to this, understand what we coming from. We coming from the point of an MC and a DJ.DD: What the fuck happened? Why do people still give a fuck about me and Snoop after 30 and 40 years? That's the answer to the question. He is a walking miracle. You know what I mean? It's just like why the fuck am I in the game for 40 years? It's like, on some real shit, I started in 1985, right? So it'll be 40 years in this shit. And let me pat myself on the back for a minute. I've been successful in the hip-hop business more than anybody ever in hip-hop history. Right? There's been people that have been in the business long before me, but successful up until now, and people still give a fuck. Right? How the fuck does that happen? Why the fuck do people still give a fuck about us? Yeah. He's a walking miracle.JHW: True GOATs.DD: That’s the truth.JHW: On “Gun Smoke” we got vintage 50 and Eminem. What was it like enlisting them for this performance?SD: That’s Dr. Dre's all-star team. All three of us love Dr. Dre's production and we all felt like we needed a record where we all got something together. We loving each other, we appreciating each other, and it just made sense. Dr. Dre's at the top of his game right now and these are three of his all-stars, and it only made sense for me to come together on this record “Gun Smoke.”DD: It's a brotherhood. We all show up for each other. None of us has ever said no to each other.JHW: Do they make any critiques when they hear the sound or anything like that? Or are they fully in as soon as you call?DD: The critiques come from Eminem. It’s like a friendly competition among us. And it’s healthy. You'll hear it. Like the way 50 showed up on the first verse. Then Snoop comes in and then Eminem shows up and you know what the fuck it is with him and that ink pen.SD: He going 75 bars of madness. Fuck all of y’all. And after he listened to it back, he may be like, ‘Give it to me again. I need eight more bars.DD: No, he fucked around and Eminem learned the technical parts of the studio. And now, he’s like can you turn my vocal up two db?SD: We’re students. We love being in Dr. Dre’s school, we have a great time in class.JHW: So Dre, you use dancehall in a very strategic and pointed way. You do it so well on “Fire.” What do you love about dancehall?DD: First of all, the artist that I work with on the record is Jamaican. Her name is Cocoa Sarai. So she's doing the hook on the song. So that was motivating that whole kind of bounce on it, because she's in the studio while we're creating the beat. So I'm basically following her.SD: Dre got a great team. Shout out to the ICU, the team behind the scenes. The writers, producers, the whole crew. They so energetic. They so dope. They go on boats, they go to different places.DD: We go out in the middle of the ocean sometimes and record. We on the boat sometimes for two weeks and there's a studio there. Nobody can go anywhere. For some reason Snoop won't come out on the boat.SD: I've watched the movie Titanic.DD: We're just there with a motherfucking microphone and keyboards and the whole shit just constantly recording. And that's what it is. A lot of the music comes from that because we're all in this confined situation.SD: It's no ego in the room and everyone got to agree.DD: Yeah. I got a sign in my studio that says, ‘Your ego is not your amigo.’SD: That’s what makes it fun for me to drop my Snoop Dogg persona and go over there and just really be a student and be a kid again. That's the fun of being with Dr. Dre.JHW: So when you're choosing this creative circle of writers and vocalists, what are you looking for? How did you choose those specific people?DD: Well, it kind of just happens. It's just like somebody knows somebody and then we meet ’em. It's just, like, your talent gets you in the room. Your personality keeps you there. That's how it works.SD: And Dr. Dre is the master of utilizing a room. Like this room right here. Some of y'all may think y'all not talented in music, but he could find something in every last one of you motherfuckers in here. And you know I ain't lying.DD: You're on cowbell. You're on tambourine. We going to figure this shit out. It is gumbo.JHW: Snoop, who's in your dream blunt rotation? Dead or alive.SD: I really want to smoke with and do a record with Sade. I think we would have a nice time smoking and then going right into a session that Dr. Dre produced.DD: I love Sade.JHW: That’s one person. Maybe two or three more?SD: Michael Jordan.DD: Not Michael Jackson?SD: I smoked next to Michael Jackson.JHW: Okay, Michael Jordan, Sade, is there one more person?SD: Muhammad Ali."I really want to smoke with and do a record with Sade." -Snoop DoggJHW: Dre, who's in your dream blunt rotation? Dead or alive?DD: I’m going to go with [Kurt] Cobain. Ella Fitzgerald. I really like this version of her singing “’Round Midnight.” Thelonious Monk and George Clinton. But I smoked one time with Snoop.SD: What happened to you?DD: I fucking realize what God looks like. I'm never smoking with this motherfucker again.JHW: Snoop, on the last song you say, “Call this my victory lap and this might be my last dance.” Are you hinting at retirement?SD: What? What is that? We don’t know what that word is. I don’t know how to golf.DD: Why do people say I'm retired? What the fuck is that? Why do you say I'm retired? Look, I've seen motherfuckers say I'm retired and then come out of retirement the next month. What the fuck? Why say I'm retired? Retire and do what?
Eminem Delivers Monologue About Sex In Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre ‘Missionary’ Commercial"I think it's time to take it back to the basics," Em says in the funny clip.
Snoop Dogg stays true to form with ‘Missionary,’ Dr. Dre’s production shines 3 out of 5 stars In his 42nd project, Snoop Dogg collaborates with Dr. Dre on “Missionary,” an album with unsurprising raps and an authentic Los Angeles sound. Dr. Dre’s tracks feature swaying beats and notes of true 90s West Coast hip hop, while Snoop Dogg’s raps have a less exciting familiarity. “Missionary” dropped Dec. 13 under Death Row, Aftermath and Interscope Records. The 16-song album notably features Sting, Tom Petty, Jhené Aiko and BJ The Chicago Kid. As a casual Snoop Dogg listener and lover of West Coast hip hop, I can say Dr. Dre carried this album. There is not a single unenjoyable beat. Every song felt crafted with purpose by Dr. Dre’s. Dr. Dre is an O.G. West Coast producer with limitless talent, and “Missionary” shows it. Without feeling caught in the past, his beats are as recognizable and entertaining as they were in his N.W.A. group days. Conversely, Snoop Dogg’s sound is uninteresting, with his work on “Missionary” not standing out from other projects. While some tracks have unexpected features that are worth a second listen, almost every song on “Missionary” sounds like a Snoop Dogg song I’ve heard before. As prolific as he is, I expect an avid listener could pick out some repetitive motifs in his music. However, I don’t regularly listen to Snoop Dogg, and I find several of the track’s lyrics redundant, missing the nostalgic element that Dr. Dre’s production offers. For example, on “Now or Never” he raps, “Cooking up Martha Stewart, know you n—– smell the scent.” Snoop Dogg has been branding himself alongside Stewart for years. It was funny for a while, but the bit is overused now. One of the highlights of “Missionary” is “Outta Da Blue.” The song features a rare Dr. Dre verse and tactful articulation from Snoop Dogg. “Outta Da Blue” is danceable, and Alus’s chorus pays homage to M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes.” I never expected Aiko to collaborate with Snoop Dogg, since they have significantly different sounds, but “Gorgeous” may be the best song on the album. Aiko’s elegant vocals break up Snoop Dogg’s rhythmic verses. “Another Part Of Me” with Sting shocked me. The song felt like snagging front-row seats to a rock concert. The collaboration features Sting’s incredible guitar skills, a more virtuosic verse from Snoop Dogg and a Dr. Dre beat that includes audience chatter and applause. “Sticcy Situation” featuring K.A.A.N and Cocoa Sarai is a song you can drive around to with friends in the summer. Sarai delivers the chorus in the cadence of “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega, and Dr. Dre’s track has a distinctly swaying LA sound. In “Fire,” Jamaican American singer Sarai has a more reggae vibe, with Dr. Dre adding steel drums to the polyrhythmic beat. But the track doesn’t fit the energy of the rest of the album, and Snoop Dogg’s delivery doesn’t match the soulful accent Sarai brings to the song. “Last Dance With Mary Jane” was a disappointing, unsophisticated collaboration. Tom Petty and Jelly Roll are supposed to provide a country flair to the album, but the narrative is underdeveloped. The song sounded like it wasn’t supposed to be country and would have been more impressive if Snoop Dogg had more creatively developed his story solo. Dr. Dre reminded us of his closeness with Eminem on “Gunz N Smoke.” The track features 50 Cent and Eminem on a quick and percussive beat. 50 Cent shines, but the beat seems too quick for Snoop Dogg and too lowkey for Eminem’s aggressive delivery. The album should have ended with “Now Or Never” featuring Dr. Dre and BJ The Chicago Kid. BJ The Chicago Kid has lightweight vocals on the chorus that complement the weighty and forceful delivery Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre bring with their verses. The last two songs, “Gangsta Pose” and “The Negotiator,” water down the album. Again, Dr. Dre’s production is outstanding, but Snoop Dogg’s lyrics and delivery put Dr. Dre’s talents to shame. Snoop Dogg tries to close the album with self-pride in “The Negotiator,” but the song is an unconvincing reflection of where he stands in his career and music in general. He raps, “Call this my victory lap, and this might be my last dance,” possibly referencing Nipsey Hussle’s last album before he was murdered, titled “Victory Lap,” and Michael Jordan’s documentary series “The Last Dance.” If this is Snoop Dogg’s way of saying he’s bowing out of music, comparing himself to Hussle and Jordan was not the way to do it. Don’t expect much novel or outstanding content when you listen to “Missionary.” This version of Snoop Dogg belongs on a just-for-fun, casual listening playlist. Listen to “Missionary” for Dr. Dre and the few stand-out collaborations.
Missionary Is a Museum ExhibitThe 1996 Vibe cover stacking Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 2pac, and Suge Knight in a Queen-like diamond was an almost instant vintage. Friction between Death Row Records co-founders Dre and Suge led the producer to leave the label a month after the issue hit shelves, later to join Jimmy Iovine in a venture called Aftermath Entertainment. A piece of the appeal of Dre’s 1999 sophomore album, 2001, was the sense that he’d painstakingly gotten some of the old band back together. The Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit show at Super Bowl LVI in 2022 excited fans who never got the promised sequel to the Up in Smoke Tour. But you rarely see half of these people in the same room anymore.Things just ain’t the same for Dre and Snoop, the gangsta-rap godfathers whose rule-breaking crassness and scandalous storytelling helped coax Time Warner to dump its piece of Interscope Records in 1995 under pressure from Senator Bob Dole. Today, the good doc is most present in Forbes roundups and the abundance of Beats headphones in music videos; the dog doesn’t go more than a few months without a moment of whimsical virality. But a trickle of lurid headlines and lawsuits this decade, which followed the 2010s’ reassessment of stories of abuse from Dr. Dre’s past, suggests that his relative wholesome turn is not the entire picture. Dre suffered an aneurysm and three strokes in 2021 during an acrimonious divorce proceeding; a marriage counselor who saw the couple is now suing him for verbal abuse. Dre seems eager to reassert the breadth of his talent and toast to his own legacy. Music gives the fans something to latch onto; they can’t bump mergers and acquisitions in the whip. Meanwhile, Snoop’s just out here doing things: pretending to be an NFT buyer of mild renown, making a splash at the Paris Olympics, investing in Klarna. In 2022, he bought Death Row out from a Blackstone tributary, but none of the six projects he put out that year grazed the top half of the Billboard 200. Missionary, he and Dre’s first album together since 1993’s Doggystyle, finds two men making furtive strides toward the old crossover dominance and re-examining their bygone formulas.Missionary is a precarious balancing act attempting to please not just people who grew up annoying their parents singing the chorus to Doggystyle’s “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?)” but the listener whose entry point into hip-hop was 50 Cent and Eminem’s tandem reign of terror, not to mention youth who mostly know Snoop as a humorist and weed celebrity. The new music reconciles the gradual readjustment of the rapper and producer’s public perception from bad influences to household names via the arrogance and thankfulness you expect from a stoned uncle. Snoop is more perseverant than threatening here, though the short film accompanying Missionary nods to a bloody, Tarantino-esque Up in Smoke Tour clip as the rapper and producer play two telepathic assassins. The most memorable bars on the album are raunchy toasts to longevity — “I prolly had your auntie on my tour bus,” “Sticcy Situation” muses — and maintaining the adaptability required to beat a murder case and later host sketch-comedy and reality-TV shows. “Skyscrapers” with Method Man braids all the disparate threads of Snoop’s persona together briskly: “Mama, look at me now / Martha on speed dial / Verified in the streets / Rap sheet, got a lot of fans.” Missionary is as much a monument to the pervasive slipperiness of Snoop Dogg as it is to the sorely missed fruitfulness of his working relationship with Dre. He raps like the consummate ’90s West Coast veteran on the swanky G-funk update “Gorgeous,” but the flows in “Skyscrapers” bear surprising resemblance to the brusque short sentences of modern New York drill.It’s not dimming talent that sowed disinterest in Snoop’s recent catalogue; there’s gems everywhere. It’s the lack of an outside editor, someone to say “no.” His finest work over the last decade has been the product of huddling with a single producer (the 2013 Dām Funk team-up 7 Days of Funk, 2015’s Bush with the Neptunes). Dr. Dre, one of few people Snoop would admit he agonizes to impress, drives a hard bargain and pushes his charges to greater heights, historically existing as much in the Tom Wilson category of producers who work the room as in the Marley Marl lineage of sample wizardry and the Quincy Jones tradition of studio albums as talent showcases. Missionary’s title implies a return to the ominous, ornate G-funk Dre used on Snoop’s first album, but the doc who showed is the one whose music thrives on workout playlists, who made the simultaneously lush and spacious beats on The Marshall Mathers LP, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and The Documentary. Missionary feels like an object plucked from the alternate universe where Snoop joined the Aftermath fold after the Master P deal.Dre thinks in stadiums and product placements. So Missionary applies his tendencies toward intricate tunefulness to a wide-ranging set of sounds whose median is fleet, percussive tracks like “Outta Da Blue,” a mountain of clattering drum hits nodding to Busta Rhymes’s “Dangerous,” Schoolly D’s “Saturday Night,” and M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” all at once. The sample selection is feisty: “Last Dance With Mary Jane” takes Tom Petty up on an offer in the Dre-and-Jimmy docuseries The Defiant Ones to make a hit out of his 1993 non-album weed banger; “Another Part of Me” is a Police cover delivered the way a 2003 OutKast might approach. As Dre howls “Make some noise if you don’t give a fuck” while someone plucks out the Andy Summers riff from “Message in a Bottle,” you wonder where the intended audience might be that finds this edgy.Snoop can mind the twists. But a feeling that the duo returned to its stomping grounds to reclaim a very specific portion of its legacy dwindles with every push for crossover appeal. “Hard Knocks” restores the feeling until a youth chorus appears rapping en Hamiltonian masse about “motherfuckers” and “pissy hallways” in homage to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2,” eliciting a chuckle. The album is a frothy showcase for the gifts of the ICU — the collective that worked with Dre on 2015’s Compton, Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), GTA Online’s “The Contract” soundtrack, and more — that brings pronounced Aftermath-era energy to a Death Row reunion. Yet Missionary strains to reconcile fan service to different eras, yielding a track list that feels uneven.The songs that grate at least stick around for thrilling second and third verses, revealing a rapper as unafraid to pour himself into a quirky concept as he is attentive to a fishy social-media trend. The most obnoxious sample flips are flexes from Dre, who’ll have you know actual Sting plays on the Police remake. The better ones are testament to Dre’s MPC gifts. Their plentiful nods to hip-hop classics match the joy and disbelief of the disrespectful, autobiographical testimonies Snoop offers. Missionary revives Dr. Dre’s idea of a mainstream rap blockbuster, with his everlastingly versatile student using the spectacle as a noisy reminder that he’s one of the nicest ever to touch a mic when he applies himself. But the pop gestures and Swizz Beatz-y slaps make for an album that, like its title, skews more straightforward than its freaky lineage required.Missionary’s concerted push for cross-pollinating radio markets while delivering the beefy, energetic music populating video-game soundtracks feels a bit self-conscious for a duo that earned these achievements a generation ago through sheer unruly magnetism. The success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and GNX are proof Cali rap can still draw in disparate demographics. He gleaned this from watching his predecessors hold a mirror to the murderous face of the country. The giants of the ’90s dragged nationwide sensibilities westward: Their songs were undeniably tuneful descendants to already infectious funk ancestors; lyrics surveyed the grisly state of the decade and advised the listener to get theirs while they can because it’s a dog-eat-dog world. Missionary says it’s incredible that these two are still kicking, and, by the way, they’re moguls with businesses to tend to. So here’s something you want (the dream collab heads wishcasted since the message-board dawn of the rap internet) for something they want (the eyes of advertising-averse patient-zero millennials and junior Gen-Xers who might like a Gin & Juice shot). When the pair stops fishing for casuals, focusing on impressing each other and the musicians in orbit, the album’s pedigree flashes. Missionary is a museum exhibit of disparate eras in winding careers. Some scenes show the world-beating defiance this empire is built on; others, the gleeful package and sale of gangster authenticity in the ensuing years, the wedge which helped Snoop, Dre, and others like them — Jay-Z, VH1-era T.I. — pivot to television and business conglomerates. But what would the album that didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought look like?Correction: A previous version of this review listed the incorrect magazine for the Death Row cover.
Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre's 'Missionary' Set For Disappointing First-Week SalesPublished on: Dec 18, 2024, 1:00 PM PSTSnoop Dogg and Dr. Dre‘s Missionary is set to penetrate next week’s Billboard 200’s chart — just not as deep as they, or anyone else, were probably expecting.According to HITSDailyDouble, the long-awaited album from the legendary duo is projected to earn just 36,000 equivalent units in its first week.With that figure, the project will likely debut at number 20 on the Billboard 200, behind previously-released rap albums such as Tyler, The Creator‘s Chromakopia and Kendrick Lamar‘s GNX.If the forecast is accurate, Missionary would be one of Snoop’s least commercially successful albums and by far Dre’s worst performing release.Tha Doggfather has dropped a series of low-selling projects in recent years, with Bible of Love, Algorithm and Bacc on Death Row all struggling to crack the top 100 on the Billboard 200.Dre (who produced Missionary but isn’t technically billed as a lead artist) has never debuted outside of the top 10 or sold less than 200,000 first-week units.Despite this, the N.W.A legend has heaped high praise on Missionary in terms of its quality, calling it one of the best efforts of his decorated career.During an interview with Entertainment Tonight earlier this year, Dre said: “This one’s gonna show a different level of maturity with his lyrics and with my music. I feel like this is some of the best music I’ve done in my career […] I’m not playing.”The 16-track album boasts appearances from fellow Hip Hop heavyweights Eminem, 50 Cent and Method Man, as well as Sting, Jelly Roll, Jhené Aiko, BJ The Chicago Kid and the late Tom Petty.The former two feature on “Gunz N Smoke,” which marks the first-ever collaboration between Snoop, Dre, Em and 50 as a four-man unit in their long-running working relationship.The groovy track contains several nods to the late, great Notorious B.I.G., with 50 and Snoop both borrowing from the former Bad Boy MC in their verses.In addition to a star-studded guest list, Missionary was supported by a cinematic short film directed by the Grammy-winning Dave Meyers.
WrongOxnard had an insane amount of hype back then and Paak was supposed to be the next best thingYou spend too much time on the West Coast forums and think all music fans in general have the same amount of hype for a Snoop album produced by Dre in 2024 as we do
I liked Compton more than this one, kinda disappointing but ok just to listen just a few times for now at least
paak had insane amount of hype? where??paak never had a commercial hit in his life.. the same cats that was hyped for him was the aftermath fans on here who were excited because dre was producing his album lolllll .. and STILL, he debuted at number 11 .. twice as good as dre+snoop .. and that was AFTER he just put out an album the year before but to pretend like his hype should be the same as 2 global rap icons + arguably the greatest rap duo in hip-hop history reuniting on death row/aftermath + backed by interscope records is flat out retarded my opinions don’t come from dubcc russians such as yourself dude i’m actually in the thick of this shit n can tell you first hand what’s what as far as this west coast rap shit goes brother dre and snoop should be doing better than 36,000 + debuting at 20 on the charts …. PERIOD
dre and snoop should be doing better than 36,000 + debuting at 20 on the charts …. PERIOD
SD: Do you think your music sounds better now?DD: Yes.SD: I don't.
See, that's the problem with you man. The way you're saying it makes it obvious that you still think of them as the 2 main artist come from the west. Snoop and Dre "should be" doing more than 36k, as if nothing has changed since 2000, it's like saying Em should still be doing a million first week.
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