Inside Music: Consumer Guide
Consumer Guide by Robert Christgau (Image: Snoop Dogg/Geffen)
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DUD OF THE MONTH

Snoop Dogg: 'Ego Trippin'' (Geffen)

Snoop Dogg
"Ego Trippin'"
(Geffen)

Snoopy's evolution into an E! cartoon is one of those regrettable trajectories of public taste that tricks get carried away by and hos ride for all they're worth. It's not just, as Tom Breihan observed in Pitchfork, that musically he runs a production line like Tom Petty or Alan Jackson. It's that he trivializes his own content -- not the gangsta, braggadocio no one takes seriously anymore, but the pimp slime. People -- there are no cute pimps. It's a contradiction in terms. "Hustle & Flow" I buy. But that's not Calvin Broadus' movie. His movie is a "Dreamgirls" where Jamie Foxx wins. So for Rolling Stone to give this four stars with long lean Barack Obama all over its cover represents a rather sickening cultural disconnect. The one great song here isn't the cyberporn hit job "Sexual Eruption" or the Prince copyright that Morris Day still owns, but the demented Johnny Cash tribute "My Medicine," not least for this Inspirational Verse: "Girl my love's gonna last just as long as I'm high/You can trust every word I tell you is a lie."

Grade: B MINUS



MORE DUDS

Amy Winehouse
"Frank" (Universal)

Black Lips
"Good Bad Not Evil" (Vice)

Dan Deacon
"Spiderman of the Rings" (Carpark)

Richard Hawley
"Lady's Bridge" (Mute)

Janet Jackson
"Discipline" (Island)

Klaxons
"Myths of the Near Future" (Rinse/DGC)

Sia
"Some People Have Real Problems" (Hear Music)

The Tough Alliance
"New Chance" (Summer Lovers Unlimited)

KT Tunstall
"Drastic Fantastic" (Relentless/Virgin)


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  • Sept. 2009: Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z, MIranda Lambert and More Get Nods; Major Lazer, Chrisette Michele, Maxwell and More Receive Honorable Mentions; Ginuwine's "A Man's Thoughts" Is Dud of the Month
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  • April 2009: Lily Allen, Amadou & Mariam, Marianne Faithfull and More Get Nods; M. Ward, the Prodigy, Leela James and more receive honorable mentions; Shearwater's "Rook" is Dud of the Month
  • March 2009: Clipse, K'Naan and the Living Things Get Nods; Ludacris, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em and More Receive Honorable Mentions; the Knux Are Dud of the Month
  • February 2009: Calle 13, Glasvegas, Guns N' Roses and Nine Inch Nails Get Nods; Fall Out Boy's "Folie à Deux" is Dud of the Month
  • January 2009: Taylor Swift, T-Pain and Kanye West Get Nods; Darius Rucker, Akon and More Receive an Honorable Mentions; Beyoncé's "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" is Dud of the Month
  • December 2008: Buena Vista Social Club, GZA/Genius, T.I. Get Nods; Lucinda Williams, Ice Cube, Young Jeezy and More Receive an Honorable Mentions; Plies Is Dud of the Month
  • November 2008: TV on the Radio and Poet Robert Creeley Get Nods; Iron & Wine, Todd Snider and Blitzen Trapper Get Honorable Mentions; Bon Iver Is Dud of the Month
  • October 2008: Jenny Lewis Gets a Nod; Jeffrey Lewis Is Dud of the Month
  • September 2008: The Hold Steady, Conor Oberst and Randy Newman Get Nods; Natasha Bedingfield Is Dud of the Month
  • August 2008: Nas Names Names (But Not His Album), Death Cab For Cutie Get Complimented and the Dean Deep Sixes the Three 6 Mafia
  • July 2008: Lil Wayne Gets a Good Review from the Dean (He's Also "Dud of the Month"
  • June 2008: Magnetic Fields, Santogold and More Get Compliments; Leona Lewis Is Dud of the Month
  • May 2008: The B-52's, Drive-by Truckers and the Roots All Receive High Marks
  • April 2008: Kate Nash, Los Campesinos!, Erykah Badu, Mika, Kathleen Edwards, Snoop Dogg and More
  • March 2008: Daft Punk, Lupe Fiasco, Willie Nelson, Herbie Hancock and More
  • Feb. 2008: Mary J. Blige, Manu Chao, Jill Scott and More
  • Jan. 2008: Hail Hip-Hop! Ghostface Killah and Wu-Tang Clan, Soulja Boy and More
  • Dec. 2007: M.I.A., Gogol Bordello Rate Perfect
  • Nov. 2007: White Stripes Not Icky But Nick Rates Low
  • Oct. 2007: Kanye Graduates With an A-Minus but 50 Cent's a Dud
  • Sept. 2007: Common, Fountains of Wayne, Bright Eyes Make the Dean's List
  • Aug. 2007: Lucinda Is Laudable but Pretty Ricky Is a Dud
  • July 2007: Miranda Lambert, Arctic Monkeys and More
  • June 2007: Wilco, Apples in Stereo, Hot Chip and More
  • April - May 2007: Beck, Nas, the Arcade Fire and More
  • Feb. - March 2007: Beyoncé, Lily Allen and More
  • Dec. 2006 - Jan. 2007: Bob Dylan, the Hold Steady and More
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