BY BANDINI • JULY 29, 2019

Snoop Dogg is gearing up for his 17th solo album amidst one of Rap’s busiest and most extensive careers. Reportedly titled I Wanna Thank Me, the upcoming release is said to feature a song about one of Dogg’s mentors, Suge Knight. While Snoop famously clapped back at verbal attacks and threats from Knight and his Death Row Records roster with 2002’s “Pimp Slapp’d,” the 2019 message is one of love and gratitude—as Snoop recently told fellow Long Beach, California native KXNG Crooked on Crook’s Corner.

Those Death Row roots are in mind for Snoop’s single, “Countdown.” The song features Swizz Beatz, who produced the track. Swizz, who made “WW III” for Snoop, Scarface, Jadakiss, and Yung Wun almost 20 years ago, gets in his G-Funk bag. The track features beat that seems to channel a piece of The Ohio Players’ “Funky Worm.” That 1972 track has become a staple in West Coast Rap since N.W.A.’s “Dopeman.” Snoop enhanced those vibes on his (also Dr. Dre-produced) “Serial Killa,” as well as on The Game’s “California Vacation.”

In the video with Swizzy, the two men go back to the park with the lowriders. It’s more than partly a visual homage to 1992’s “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang.” Swizz even wears a Chronic hat as donned by The D.O.C. in the iconic music visual self-directed by Dre. Look closely, and Snoop is wearing his Row chain, more than 20 years after an acrimonious exit on the label’s part.

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