Ego Trippin'

America loves Snoop Dogg and it’s nice to see him taking advantage of his elite status by stretching out and trying some new tricks on Ego Trippin’. While the laconic country shuffle of “My Medicine” might take his audience’s goodwill for granted, there is no entertainer but Snoop who could pull off the New Wave fetishism of “Cool” and “Sexual Eruption,” two icy Eighties throwbacks that feature singing from the big Dogg himself. And while Ego Trippin’ lacks the precision focus of Snoop’s last album, the Neptunes-helmed Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, it does bring into the fold two of the most underappreciated producers in hip-hop history: Teddy Riley and DJ Quik. Though Riley has been all but dismissed as a dated relic of the early Nineties, he provides Ego Trippin’ with some of its most unique and intoxicating soundscapes, including the sinister electro of “Gangsta Like Me” and the woozy arpeggios of “Let It Out.” There is a sense of ironic self-awareness in the album’s title, and though Ego Trippin’ can feel like a closet full of costumes, no performer brings more fun to the runway.