Snoop Doggy Dogg - Tha Doggfather [2LP]

Long Beach's finest stepped out from Dr. Dre's shadow on Tha Doggfather, and this double LP brings back Snoop Doggy Dogg's second album in all its laid-back Death Row glory.

Following Doggystyle was never going to be easy, and by 1996 the landscape at Death Row had shifted dramatically, with Dre gone and the label in turmoil. Snoop answered with a looser, funkier record that leaned on old-school soul and party flavour rather than chasing the menace of his debut.

Gap Band legend Charlie Wilson turns up throughout, most memorably on "Snoop's Upside Ya Head", a playful reworking of his old band's party classic. "Vapors" reimagines Biz Markie's tale of fair-weather friends with help from Teena Marie, while the title track "Doggfather" and the posse cut "Groupie", with Nate Dogg, Warren G and Tha Dogg Pound, keep the whole extended family close.

Critics at the time wanted another Doggystyle, but the years have been kind to its easygoing groove and generous spirit, and it now sounds like the moment Snoop decided to have fun on his own terms, no matter who was watching.

Pressed across two LPs, it plays like a Sunday cookout in Long Beach and stands as a key chapter in one of hip-hop's longest reigns.