Dr. Dre’s influence on modern hip-hop is bordering on ridiculous. Besides fronting the breakthrough gangster rap outfit N.W.A., Dre was behind the monstrous debut efforts of Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and, most recently, The Game.
A twin-bill at Allstate Arena on Friday paired Dre’s first protege, Snoop, with The Game, whose debut, “The Documentary,” has sold a staggering 2 million copies in three months.
More than a decade after the release of his debut, “Doggystyle,” Snoop Dogg is still the same — a towering hybrid of super-pimp Don “Magic” Juan’s audacity with a touch of the “Aw, shucks” demeanor of Deputy Dawg. Dressed in a full-body jumpsuit, the rapper drifted between old standbys (“Murder Was the Case”; “Lodi Dodi”) and material from his 2004 release, “Rhythm and Gangsta: The Masterpiece,” smartly avoiding much of his mid-period dreck. His serpentine voice, unfazed by years on the mic, bounced effortlessly on the Neptunes-produced banger “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and insinuated itself in the groove on “Gin and Juice.”
Snoop’s playful set only failed when he tried unconvincingly to play the part of the ladies’ man on “Fresh Pair Of Panties On,” a performance that found the rapper cavorting uncomfortably with a dancer on a four-post bed.
The Game would never engage in such shenanigans. In between harping on how “gangsta” he was (“I took five [bullets]”) and how “gangsta” his fans are, he managed to slide in a few tracks from his debut. Delivering his lines in a raspy, drill sergeant cadence, The Game let his performance turn into a study in gangster rap cliche, songs such as “Westside Story” and “Higher” sounding even more monochromatic than they do on record. It was only on the Kanye West-produced “Dreams,” that The Game dropped his guard and announced he was “livin’ for [his] son.”