The Last Meal.

Snoopdogg, The Last Meal (Priority)

Despite his late efforts to distance himself from West coast gangsta rap, The Last Meal is evidence that Snoop Dogg's fate is bathed in confrontational violence, replete with the gunshot punctuation on "Snoop Dogg (That's My Name), Pt. 2." After having conquered the hip-hop charts and the crossover charts with Doggystyle and Top Dogg, and having become very rich and famous in the process, cavorting with skimpily clad young ladies in his videos, one wonders what there is left in Calvin Broadus's life to be angry about. But as a friend once said, "Nothing succeeds like success." Broadus/ Dogg sticks to the gig that got him to the big time: unrepentant violence, paeans to life in jail, and (once again) rampant misogyny. To wit, Dogg's last two discs, Meal and Dead Man Walkin', seem to embrace anew the idea that murder, lawlessness, and doing time is honorable -- especially if you're not there and can make millions rapping about it. And there's something not a little cynical about making gobs of money from the disturbing cultural phenomenon that finds a disproportionate number of young, black males populating the nation's prisons. Otherwise, it would be easy to dismiss gangsta rap, along with Eminem's proto-violence, as just another wail to attract disaffected teens.

Arguably, it was Dr. Dre's production as much as Dogg's street poetry that propelled Doggystyle, the only CD in Billboard's history to debut at No. 1. Dre and Dogg have partially parted company, so a number of additional producers handle the chores on Last Meal, Timbaland, Meech Wells, Jelly Roll, Battlecat, and others. The music they produce is not on Dre's level, but even Dre's artistry couldn't hide -- not that it tried or wanted to -- Dogg's unabashed, unashamed misanthropy. The man, like Eminem (another Dre prodigy), can't come to terms with anything outside of getting high, abusing women, and bashing gays, as if standing trial, doing time, and dying young is a badge of honor in the `hood. Well, not where I come from, and I'm willing to bet not where the vast throngs of Dogg admirers come from either. Like Eminem, Dogg is a compelling personality. But he's also wrong. The music matters, but the message, well, I'll pass on this one, too.

Coda. The multiple denouements? Der Bingle reverted to sappy ballads and ...