Snoop Dogg: "Pimp Slapp'd"

After spending last week talking about non-rappers and novelty acts, I've decided that this week's entries will only feature MCs who are top 50 all-time.  You know, just to clear our heads.

Snoop Dogg's place in rap is somewhat complicated.  His appearances on Dre's The Chronic combined with his debut album, Doggystyle, cemented his legacy as one of the West Coast's most original voices, but his career since then has been fairly unremarkable.  Though Snoop has a hit every two or three years, he hasn't really made any consistently good music since his first album, meaning that he has about two album's worth of decent material total (and that includes his wonderful but entirely superfluous redo of "La-Di-Da-Di", as well as my unfounded affection for "Batman & Robin").  Snoop has never been a particularly strong lyricist and, with an unconscionable 11 albums and 21 mixtapes to his credit (as well as several hundred features), few MCs can approach his vast collection of filler-rap.

And his filler-TV-show numbers are off the charts...

All that said, Snoop remains one of hip-hop's great hook-crafters and his style (though it devolved into parody after approximately two years) is one of rap's most recognizable.  Doggystyle is still a great record, maybe the West Coast Gangsta movement's finest achievement, and Snoop deserves lots of credit for helping to form the framework for West Coast rap in the early 90s.

One of Snoop's proudest moments is "Pimp Slapp'd," a diss record aimed at infamous Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight.  Though he's a bit of a punchline now (both literally and figuratively), Suge was rap's most feared man in the 90s, to the point where it was entirely conceivable (though not at all demonstrable) that he was linked to 2pac's murder.  By the time the 00s rolled around, Death Row was going bankrupt and people were a little less cautious about tossing Suge's name around.  Still, it wasn't until Snoop, a former Death Row member and person-whose-address-is-doubtlessly-in-Suge-Knight's-phone, released this diss track unscathed that the rap world realized that Suge was now harmless.

Also, Rick Ross cites Suge Knight as his fashion muse.

Okay, so some of that stuff I just made up.  I'm trying to form a narrative, people!  Regardless, "Pimp Slapp'd" is a fantastic song.  Here's our Shaq line:

"In the paint playin' post / I back ya down like Shaq-Daddy / and bust ya out your new Caddy."


Explanation: Like Shaq backing down a helpless defender in the post, Snoop uses his strength and superior masculinity to overwhelm Suge, allowing him to force him out of his newly-purchased Cadillac automobile via gunfire.  I think?

Awkwardness of Line: One of Snoop's great strengths is that, due to his ultra-smooth delivery, none of his lines ever sound awkward, even though they almost always are.  That's how he's gotten away with all of those terrible songs over the years.  4 of 5.

Cleverness of Line: One of Snoop's great weakness is that he's never been a particularly clever lyricist.  This line is no exception, although I like that he called Shaq "Shaq-Daddy," adding to the interminable list of Shaq nicknames that already ranges from Superman to Diesel to The Big Aristotle to Kazaam.  Just kidding.  2 of 5.

Appropriateness of Line: With Suge nearing bankruptcy and cultural irrelevance, it wouldn't seem unfair to say that he could be muscled around by a pop icon like Snoop, even as Snoop's own relevance has waned in the 00s.  Which is to say that this line would be quite appropriate if it didn't also assume that the poverty-stricken Suge owned a new Cadillac, which he likely couldn't have afforded.  3 of 5.

Shaqness of Line: Though all post players engage in the acting of backing their opponent down, few were ever as effective at it as Shaq in his prime.  At the peak of his powers, Shaq could move the toughest defender wherever he wanted on the court due to his extreme size and strength.  3 of 5.

Regular-sized Aristotle, for comparison.

FINAL SHAQ SCORE: 12 OUT OF 20