Snoop Dogg's new album shows us 'how to age gracefully' in hip-hop

Last Friday, Snoop Dogg dropped his newest album, Missionary, which many consider a sequel to his classic 1993 album, Doggystyle. The albums mirror each other both in style and in his collaboration with Dr. Dre. But despite all the similarities, this is not the same Snoop Dogg from 30 years ago. The rapper, 53, has changed his sound since he first began his career. 

Music critics A. Harmony and Mastermind join Elamin Abdelmahmoud to review the new release, how it holds up to past albums and what it means to age in hip-hop. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Can I talk to you a little bit about hip-hop and aging? Because I'm really interested in this conversation. Hip-hop is such a young genre. We celebrated Hip-hop 50 not that long ago. We have to sit with this idea of moving into our elders' generation, if you will. This is the first time that we're getting hip-hop elders. Dr. Dre, 59-years-old, Snoop is 53. Hip-hop was born as an insurgent medium, as an insurgent genre that is about capturing the energy of young people. And now we're moving into this new stage. And I just don't know what the possibilities of hip-hop can be. Mastermind, if you can just root us in this album and what Snoop is trying to work through, how do you see us contemplating this idea of hip-hop elders? 

Mastermind: I actually like it because I think hip-hop, R&B are the genres that, for some reason, when artists age out, we kick them to the side and we're like, "Hey, this is a young person's game or sport." And it's the weirdest thing because you don't get that same kind of attitude when it comes to rock or when it comes to country. 

Elamin: You get the opposite. 

Mastermind: Yeah, you get the absolute opposite, and it doesn't make any sense. Again, when you reference Hip-hop 50 and you think about the big concerts that happened to celebrate, it was a celebration of the forefounders and the people who laid the pavement down, if you will. Dre and Snoop have been doing this for 30-plus years. If you factor in what Dre was doing with World Class Wreckin' Cru and N.W.A. and whatnot. When you said 59, I didn't even clue in, I'm like, "59? Holy moly." 

Yeah, but the fact that they are making age-appropriate music is amazing for people like us who have grown up with it. Listen, some of this young music is not for me. They're not making it for me, I'm not going to be the one to be able to like it or appreciate it. So when artists that I grew up with, that I admire and adore, start making music that is in the pocket of where I am and what I want to hear — and it does give me nostalgic vibes as well as some modern notes and tones to it — I can't help but be appreciative and very joyful about it. 

Elamin: I'm interested in this question, particularly because of the contrast that we had this year, because we got André 3000 from Outkast back after such a long time of not really putting out anything. He comes out with a flute album and it's a beautiful record, and he's curiously exploring all of the different flutes that he owns. But one of the things that he said on the press tour is like, "Look, I'm in my late 40s. I'm not really sure I have anything to say in the hip-hop mode." And, A. Harmony, I think that immediately invites the question of like: what do rappers have to tell us as they get into their late 40s, as they get into their 50s, and then Snoop comes out with this record, do you think this is maybe a viable path? 

A. Harmony: I think so. I think the beauty of where we are right now in hip-hop is we're learning how to age and how to age gracefully. None of the rappers that are doing it right now have aged before. So they get to set the tone, set the path and define what aging looks like. And I think the common thread in all of the hip-hop artists that I see that are still doing is reinvention. André 3000 decided, "You know what? I'm going to make a flute album. I've done what I can in the hip-hop space." And I respect it. Snoop himself has made an R&B album, he's made a gospel album, he's made a reggae album, children's music. There are people veering into education or showrunning, etc. So I think they're teaching us how to age, how to age gracefully, that aging doesn't put a limit on your creativity. And I'm refreshed to see the directions that they're heading in. I think it's a blessing to see them grow and age in this space. 

Elamin: It's a really fortunate thing to have an art form mature in this way too, that you actually get elders in that genre. I know what a Bruce Springsteen album sounds like in his 70s. I'm excited to find out what a Snoop Dogg album sounds like in the 70s.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ty Callender.