Snoop Dogg Review – Hits, Covers & Tributes to Departed Greats

Snoop Dogg performed at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Saturday, 4th March. Cyclone Wehner reviews.

The most remarkable thing about Snoop Dogg’s long-awaited return to Australia is that – aside from a false start – it hasn’t ignited controversy. Snoop’s first tour here, in 1998, attracted a jubilantly multicultural audience but was embroiled in racialised media commentary. In 2007, Snoop was banned from flying over for the MTV Australia Awards on “character grounds” by John Howard’s Coalition Government. He was last in the country for 2014’s Big Day Out, despite remonstrations from activist group Collective Shout, who in turn were called out for their white feminism.

But, this go, Snoop’s pending arrival was met with silence, even if two of the tour’s four scheduled support acts, Tha Dogg Pound and Obie Trice, were quietly scrubbed from the program at the eleventh hour.

Snoop Dogg – ‘Who Am I (What’s My Name?)’

Long Beach’s finest was accompanied by Eminem’s former tour accomplice, DJ Green Lantern, as well as two R&B singers, pole dancers and an animal mascot. Snoop’s style is supremely, and astutely, laidback – the lanky MC, now 51, relying not only on presence, but also his wry comic flair. He’s a pro.

That said, Snoop didn’t deliver an obvious set. He could have rattled off his greatest hits, favouring 1993’s fabled solo debut Doggystyle. Yet the selections were more curated and considered. Leaning away from hardcore rap, he embraced his R&B side, or “R&G” (rhythm & gangsta), playing the mack over the G.

Much of the setlist came from the 2000s, when Snoop sprang back to life after 1996’s underwhelming Tha Doggfather and several ignominious releases on Master P’s No Limit Records. He performed his hit Neptunes collabs ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ and a de-Auto-Tuned ‘Sexual Eruption’ (aka ‘Sensual Seduction’).

Snoop Dogg – ‘Beautiful’ ft. Pharrell Williams

Certain early classics got a look in, such as ‘Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang’, the lead single from Dr Dre’s The Chronic, and a peppy ‘Gin And Juice’. Later, we heard a slick ‘Who Am I (What’s My Name?)’. Snoop paid tribute to both 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G., performing Biggie’s ‘Hypnotize’ and his own duet with 2Pac, ‘2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted’, from Pac’s All Eyez On Me, released just months before his murder.

There were snatches of other, more random covers throughout the show, including House Of Pain’s ’90s banger ‘Jump Around’ and Snoop’s remix of 50 Cent’s ‘P.I.M.P.’ Another highlight was a version of 2011’s ‘Wet’ that incorporated elements of David Guetta’s EDM remix of the track, titled ‘Sweat’.

Overall, Snoop’s theatrical and flamboyant performance felt like a homage to George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic. The closer was a song he joked is his “national anthem” – ‘Young, Wild & Free’, cut with Wiz Khalifa and Bruno Mars for 2011’s Mac & Devin Go To High School soundtrack.

If, in the ’90s, like every gangsta rapper, Snoop traded on controversy, then in later years he’s encouraged transgressive self-parody. Snoop remains a canny Black entrepreneur. The Rod Laver Arena was kitted out in promotional material for his wine, Cali Rosé, a partnership with the Australian company 19 Crimes. But Snoop’s concert underscored that, for him, music will always be his passion – and his game.

Snoop Dogg – ‘Young, Wild & Free’

Earlier in the night, Dublin’s Versatile were a happy discovery. Since their 2017 debut, Dublin City G’s, rappers Casey “Casper” Walsh and Alex “Eskimo Supreme” Sheehan have provoked outrage in Ireland with their problematic street raps, even though they’re evidently satirical.

Versatile upped the comedy for their raucous live slot, chanting “Melbourne, make some fookin’ noise” and partaking in a shoey. They also honoured their late champion Coolio, who guested on 2019’s single ‘Escape Wagon’, with an idiosyncratic rendition of his seminal G-funk record ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’.

Detroit’s D12 – which Eminem declared defunct in 2018 – appeared in a drastically downsized incarnation. A six member group at their peak, just Kuniva and Swifty McVay made the trip, along with the charismatic DJ Invisible.

D12 will forever be associated with Eminem as well as the late Proof, and Kuniva and Swifty struggled to compensate for their absence. They’re capitalising on nostalgia, given their most recent album came out in 2004. But the pair flexed their gritty 8 Mile-esque rap skills and worked hard to win over the crowd.

Swifty donned a guitar for ‘Revelation’ off 2001’s debut Devil’s Night, but it was more hammy than horrorcore. They performed classics such as the Eminem collab ‘Under The Influence’, ‘Fight Music’ and, yes, ‘Purple Pills’ – a bouncy finale somewhat irreverently heralded by Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’.