Snoop Dogg, Manchester Apollo

Snoop Dogg’s 1993 debut album ‘Doggystyle’ is credited with introducing the G-Funk hip-hop style to the mainstream. Much like producer Dr Dre’s ‘The Chronic’, released the previous year and featuring Snoop on several tracks, it blended George Clinton, Parliament and Funkadelic samples with rolling basslines and whistling synths to create a distinctive new sound which spawned many imitators. ‘Doggstyle’ also became a showcase for Snoop’s smooth, laid-back gangsta-rap which, depending on your sensibilities, either documented or glorified the gang lifestyle of drugs, sex and violence.

This Snoop show is a real coup for the Manchester International Festival after rumours the Coronation Street fan was set to make a cameo appearance on the soap proved false (apparently he doesn’t ‘roll’ so well along cobbled streets). A few technical problems means a couple of false starts before Lady of Rage, one of several supporting rappers from Doggstyle to appear, launches into ‘G-Funk Intro’ soon followed on stage by Snoop for a storming ‘Gin and Juice’.

Following the current vogue among musicians, Snoop had promised to perform his classic album in full. But it soon becomes obvious he’s going to mix things up. The lazy beats of ‘The Chronic’’s ‘Nuthin’ But A G Thang’ signals the first change while many of ‘Doggystyle’’s lesser tracks and interludes are left off the set. Purists would have been annoyed but few in the venue seem to care as Snoop, assisted by rappers Kurupt, RBX and Daz Dillinger, keeps the mood celebratory.

Although ‘Doggystyle’ depicted ghetto life at its grimmest, Snoop’s comedic rhymes often make the subject matter more palatable. His willingness to inject humour into music is emphasised as he and his crew act out Blaxploitation-type film scenes on a giant video screen between songs. And much of Snoop’s latter career has focussed on marketing his cartoon pimp persona as much as his music. Nevertheless, he proves he can still get dark when he wants too on the brooding ‘Murda Was The Case’, which is soon followed by gangster tribute ‘Gz and Hustlas’. Warren G performs his hit ‘Regulate’ before Snoop closes with ‘What’s My Name’ and ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’. As Snoop remarks, this has been more of a “Doggystyle experience” than a full performance of the album, but only pedants in the audience would demand a refund.