** Snoop Dogg

NO LIMIT TOP DOGG

(No Limit/Priority)

It was a bit discombobulating when Snoop Dogg -- the rapper from Long Beach who began his career on the LA's Death Row Records -- jumped ship to the New Orleans-based No Limit family last year. But the change was a surprise success: whereas Snoop's last album for Death Row was a huge disappointment, his No Limit efforts have been more lively, in large part thanks to the garish, trebly funk that has come to be associated with No Limit chief Master P.

No Limit Top Dogg, Snoop's second album for his new label, is filled with stupid ideas (a retelling of the Cinderella story entitled, "Snoopafella"), outright clichés ("G Bedtime Stories"), and half-assed love ballads ("Somethin Bout Yo Bidness"). It's also crudely effective: Snoop's former mentor, Dr. Dre, adds an exquisitely dinky guitar line to "Buck 'Em"; "Ghetto Symphony" finds Snoop playing gracious host to No Limit soldiers Mia X, Silkk the Shocker, and Mystikal; and tracks like "Doin' Too Much" and "Trust Me" showcase Snoop's appealingly greasy lyrical style.

-- Kelefa Sanneh