Snoop Dogg review – highs and lows from the D-O-double-G

Snoop Dogg review – highs and lows from the D-O-double-G

Snoop Dogg at the O2 Arena

‘There aren’t enough hyphens to describe him’: Snoop Dogg at the O2 Arena. Photograph: Simone Joyner/Getty Images

O2 Arena, London
The rapper drawls his way through his greatest hits and some cheesy near-misses in this long-delayed show. Shame about the unreconstructed objectification

Just over 30 years have passed since Snoop Dogg – then known by his full name, Snoop Doggy Dogg – first appeared on a record: a Dr Dre cut called Deep Cover. Written to soundtrack a movie, the song was judged too hot to be included in the final track listing for Dre’s now classic album, The Chronic, because of its premise – killing an undercover police officer.

Tonight, wearing an eye-catching, bandana-patterned jumpsuit with Death Row Records printed on it, Snoop Dogg laconically drawls his debut verses about “doing a 187 on a cop”, vestiges of his original menace still present, despite a profound evolution. At 51, Snoop remains physically unchanged – apart from his hair, and his need for occasional sit-downs behind the DJ’s riser. If anything survives of his 2013 conversion to Rastafarianism, it’s the dreadlocks that fall luxuriantly down his back in a ponytail.

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