Tha Dogg Pound – “DPG 4 Life” (Album Review)

Mistah Wilson July 30, 2021

Tha Dogg Pound is a renown hip hop duo consisting of Long Beach emcee/producer Daz Dillinger & Philadelphia emcee Kurupt. I really shouldn’t have to say much about their 1995 full-length debut Dogg Food since it’s widely recognized as one of the last great albums that Death Row Records ever put out. They’ve gone on to release some music here & there since but just 11 years after their last album 100 Wayz, they’re reuniting for their 8th full-length album.

“Ghetto” kicks things off with a chilled out depiction of having bills to pay & them doing fine whereas “We Rollin’” goes into a funkier direction with them stuntin’. “Dissolution of Marriage” is a calmer tune talking about just that, but then “Used 2” follows it up going into a more depressive tone.

Meanwhile on “Bottom Bitch”, we get a classy theme for all the pimps out there right before Snoop Dogg comes into the picture for spacey sex anthem “Nice & Slow”. The highnamic trio stick around for the g-funk thug anthem “Skip Skip” prior to going back to the romance tip on the atmospheric “Baby I Want U Bac”.

“It Ain’t Nuthin’” is an auto-tune trap ballad talking about smoking in an old school Chevy while “I’m On It” with Soopafly works in some snares & squeaking synths to talk about being hustlas. The song “Let’s Roll” serves as a melodic cut talking about partying with their ladies while the penultimate track “Hood Girl” brings in some keys to talk about their taste in women. Then they put the feel-good West Coast tribute “LA Here’s to U” off of Kurupt’s 2013 sophomore mixtape Money, Bitches, Power for the closer.

We’ve had to wait a little over decade for Dillinger & Young Gotti to reunite in a full-length capacity. The end results are a bit of mixed bag for me personally. I think the lovey dovey shit sounds forced even though “Let’s Play House” is one of my favorites all-time favorite DPG songs but when they’re on their g shit, it sounds more natural.

Score: 5/10