Death Row: The Lost Sessions Vol. 1: Snoop Dogg

If you've ever thought "Man, I wish I could hear more songs from Snoop Dogg's 1992-97 period," this is your lucky day. Thank WIDEAwake Entertainment, the upstart Toronto company that snatched the controversial Death Row label out of bankruptcy court, for recovering tunes such as "Eat a D--k," "Hoez" and "Put It in Ya Mouth" from the abyss where they landed after the rapper left the label in 1993. Cleverly foul gangster tracks in then-named Snoop Doggy Dogg's lazy, enticing drawl here recall the glory days of West Coast rap. Guests such as George Clinton and Nate Dogg, with an assortment of producers including Dr. Dre. None of these stories is really compelling here though; lots of nice-sounding nonsense like "some of you niggas is so deceptive/Using my style as a contraceptive" ("Eat a D--k"). Nothing he hasn't done better elsewhere. For completists only. Top Track: "Life's Hard" is a stirring Tupac Shakur tribute featuring K-Ci & Jojo that would have been nice to hear in the aftermath of the rapper's 1996 murder.

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