Yea I can see what you're saying about him being a better MC now. He was always dynamic because of his voice, flow and personality on the mic, but you're right in that he didn't do anything mindblowing lyrically even on Doggystyle, he just made simple rhymes sound sooooooooooooooo ill. And yea Snoop knows what he's doing. Even this new album, as excellent as I think it is, could still use 5 or 6 songs less, and it would be an almost flawless release. It's almost a chore to get through the whole thing despite the fact that most of it is really good, if that makes sense.

Yea I was disappointed in Ego Trippin too. Blue Carpet was so fucking good (IMO his second best to Doggystyle) and like you said, the collaborations he had around the time ET dropped let me to believe he was going in a different direction. There was a few great tracks on there (Press Play immediately comes to mind) but I don't listen to more than 5 tracks on there often.

Yea you're right about Snoop and Nas too. And I feel similarly about Snoop still dropping quality work this far into his career, especially since it's clear he has other ways of making money and doesn't really need to put out albums anymore. It's clear he still loves it and that's why we get an album like Doggumentary.

I was thinking about how I'd rate his albums after I got Doggumentary yesterday. I think it looks something like this:

1. Doggystyle
2. Blue Carpet Treatment
3. Tha Last Meal
4. No Limit Top Dogg
5. R&G
6. Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss
7. Tha Doggfather
8. Ego Trippin'
9. Malice n Wonderland
1000000000000000000000000. Da Game is to Be Sold

Obviously being only two listens or so into Doggumentary I'm not ready to rank it, but judging by first impressions I think it'll fall firmly into third place on that list. I'm really digging this album a lot.