TBG Beats: Snoop Dogg -- "Wet"

M'man "NY Jon" dropped me a line last Friday:

Have you heard Snoop Dogg's latest single? What's the bigger surprise: that Snoop revisited his own atrocious Sensual Seduction sound or that "Wet" is actually WORSE than "Sensual Seduction"???





I had the same initial reaction after giving "Wet" a few listens...until I stumbled across an even bigger surprise: "Sensual Seduction" peaked at number SEVEN on the Billboard charts. During almost 20 years in the industry, Snoop Dogg has released five solo singles that cracked the top ten and "Sensual Seduction" was one of them. Sexual Chocolate! Sensual Seduction!

It was nominated for a GRAMMY!

So, it's not all that surprising to see Snoop Dogg reboot the ol' Auto-Tune one more time.

In fact, looking back over Snoop's catalog, he regularly repeats himself when he finds a formula that works. After moving nearly 10 million units between Dr. Dre's The Chronic and the seminal Doggystyle -- leaning heavily on old school influences -- the first single off of 1996's Tha Doggfather was Snoop's Upside Ya Head (one of the few tracks on the album that stayed true to Snoop's g-funk roots).

In 1998, Snoop's first single on Master P's No Limit label was Still a G-Thang -- the flaccid sequel to his classic "Nuthin' But a G-Thang". Later, from 2002-2006, Snoop released three studio solo albums and, on each one, Pharrell Williams produced the lead single (From Tha Chuuuch to Tha Palace, Drop It Like It's Hot and Vato).

And, I'm not sure "Wet" is actually worse than "Sensual Seduction".

It's obviously not for those of us who stood in line outside VIP Records in Long Beach to pick up Snoop Dogg's debut release in November 1993. But, Snoop seems to know his (new) audience and their love for simplistic lyricism ("...drip, drip, drip...drip for me mami..."). I can tune out the vocals long enough to appreciate the minimalist beat from The Cataracs -- an up-and-coming duo originally from Berkeley, California.

I don't know if "Wet" will be Snoop Dogg's sixth entry into Billboard's top ten, but it'll be bumpin' in every strip club in the country by Christmas.