I don’t own much rap music. I can probably count on one hand the rap artists in my collection: Eminem, Public Enemy, Outkast, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, maybe one or two more I’m not thinking of.

Looking at that list, Snoop Dogg is the one that stands out as unlike the others. The rest are groundbreaking in one way or another… Public Enemy’s outspoken politics, Outkast’s prog-rock ambitions, Kanye’s alternative musicality, Eminem’s lyricism (and the color of his skin).

But Snoop Dogg is just another L.A. gangsta who raps about scoring bitches and getting high. He kind of epitomizes the macho excess that typifies that sub-culture. If he has a standout trait, it’s probably that he smokes more weed than any of his contemporaries.

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