Dogg in heat

Fourteen years after the Sun's "Kick This Evil Bastard Out" headline, Canine-featured rapper Snoop Dogg has become one of hip-hop's most dependable and (say it quietly) safe artists.

Yes, he still gets arrested at airports for carrying drugs and collapsible batons in his hand luggage, but maybe he was just "looking after the dope for a friend" while on his way to perform as a majorette.

His music has certainly become more accessible and radio-friendly since his murder-obsessed Death Row days. Justin Timberlake duet Signs was a proper chart smash and the iracsible Snoop was even invited to play at Live 8. Okay, so he swore like a trooper throughout the performance and the BBC had to apologise but what's a motherfucker between friends, eh?

His new record Sensual Seduction is, rather unbelievably, a ballad. Vocoded to within an inch of his mustache, it sees the "Dee-oh-double-gee" waxing lyrical about his prowess in the underdrawers department.

The video is retro genius. Snoop is in full-on Huggy Bear mode, while the picture has been treated to look like a 1980s video recording. It even features spot-on parodies of the videos for When Doves Cry and Rock With You, amongst others.

Sadly, the song doesn't pull off its 80s pastiche quite as successfully, sounding more like a cheap BlackStreet smoocher than a fabulous Rick James seductathon.

Six out of ten. Unless Snoop is reading this, in which case it's a triumphant 9/10 and would you please put the gun away, now.

Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction

Tweet