“This means blood/And this means crip/And this means oh no, please don’t trip.”

That pretty much encapsulates the general aesthetic at work on "Snoop Dogg Presents Dubb Union." It’s classic G-funk revivalism, only without the classic, as MCs Damani and Bad Lucc don’t bring much at all to the mix but tired street cliches.

It’s unfortunate, because West Coast producer Soopafly, who has done tracks for Snoop, the Dogg Pound and others, provides a solid foundation of lush beats, whining synth lines, forlorn pianos and hand claps that would sound great as the bedrock for the next Snoop disc.

Now me personally, I’m a production guy, so "Dubb Union" squeaks by on the strength of Soopafly’s board work. But as a total package, the generic gangsta lyrics and some phony Nate Dogg clone on the choruses relegates it to the “ehhh” stack.

Sussex Countian