Dr Dre &. Snoop Dogg - A Tag Team We Miss...

"We have your record company surrounded/Put down the candy and let the little boy go.."

Now I don't want to come off like a white boy player-hater, but between spruiking Dr Pepper in possibly the worst rapper cameo in an ad, well, ever, and having to fight to tour in Australia even though his gangster days died with Tupac, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg haven't really done anything remarkable musically for nearly five years. Since teaming up with Dre for a string of hits in the '90s as part of the Death Row crew, Snoop Dogg has become a household name, lovable reality TV icon and extraordinarily boring rapper. These days he apparently spends more time hanging around the Pussycat Dolls than his kids, as well as dropping into tracks with falsetto champions like Pharell ('Beautiful') and JT ('Signs') without actually contributing anything. I mean, this is the guy whose apparently seen the back of more police vans than I've seen bad Michael Jackson specials popping up on Channel 9.

Dre, on the other hand, launched Snoop, so he's technically got an even bigger responsibility. He's laid down some of the greatest hooks, bass lines and beats in the buisiness, including Tupac's 'California Love' and Blackstreet's 'No Diggity'. The last time Dre did anything remotely interesting was with 50 Cent, predominantly because he made the licks so good you could ignore the fact that Curtis can't really speak properly. I'm not counting Eminem's latest effort, because its a complete departure from Dre's signature G-funk sound, and it also blows, something that is mostly Eminem's fault. He's also responsible for Snoop Dogg's latest albums, which merit a 'Don't Like This' option on Facebook. Weak as, bro.

There was a time, however, when Dre and Dogg teamed up to blow motherfucker's minds, to introduce the suffix 'izzle' into the popular lexicon, and to encourage every kid to start selling crack cocaine like it was going out of style. Dre, coming off brilliant production for N.W.A, and Snoop, just starting to get his shtick on, the collabos came thick and fast, and didn't involve any soft drink commercials. I love this stuff, and I know my drum student does to, so I'm putting up some classic examples of why my parents didn't want me listening to gansta rap in the 90s. These days, I'd put Snoop Dogg on for little sister over Jonas Brothers without hesitation. The world is a mysterious place.

Dr Dre ft. Snoop Dogg - 'Fuck Wit' Dre Day'


Dr Dre ft. Snoop Dogg - 'The Next Episode'


Snoop Dogg (prod. Dr Dre) - 'Gin & Juice'


Fo shizzle my nizzle.

PS: Our friends over at Throw Shapes have re-launched their blog. Check it out here, and if you're in Sydney, their launch party is at World Bar tonight from 8pm.