Snoop

From LA Times, Snoop Dogg and crew in the studio working on two tunes for Snoop's next album, and two tunes for the much anticipated Detox from Dr Dre... there's a bunch of messing round, and then they get into the beat making, which is some pretty awesome music...

"...Though Snoop is often portrayed as the goofy avuncular stoner, this is the side of him as the true artist, surrounded by lauded producer DJ Quik, who arrives with a black box that he describes as "every drum machine you ever wanted in your life, rolled into one." Beaming, Snoop picks it up and tells the camera: "This is the cheat sheet, straight from DJ Quik's living."

.... Like most Dre-related work, there are live guitarists and drummers, mixed with machines both analog and digital. In between the blunt smoking and conversations with members of Guerillas in Tha Mist (!), there's the ineradicable emphasis on topping the past.

Snoop readily references "Still D.R.E" and the wild reaction it continues to get from crowds even a dozen years after its release. He describes it as the "[last stuff], it was perfect. We need to find something flawless for Dre and he ain't listening past the first 10 seconds."...