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— by Shaheem Reid, with interviews by Sway Calloway and Joseph Patel
Roscoe P. Coldchain never dropped his album, the Clipse haven't been heard from in about a year and Kelis publicly denounced her label heads. Still, the Neptunes' Star Trak family is looking stronger than ever. The production duo finally have an MC whose superstar status rivals their own, and they potentially have another one waiting in the wings.
Star Trak recruit Snoop Dogg has dropped one of the most beloved singles of the year with the Neptunes-produced "Drop It Like It's Hot," and his R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece looks like it's going to be his highest-selling LP since his 1993 debut, Doggystyle.
And while the Dogg continues to ignite the airwaves, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo have been working with another microphone beast — a hog, to be exact. Houston's Slim Thug — who heads up his own clique, the Boss Hogg Outlawz — has been experiencing anything but lean sales when it comes to pushing units by himself down South (he's made enough money to start his own indie label and buy a used-car lot and a record store). So you don't need one of the investigators on "CSI" to figure out why he turned his back on the flimsy deals that have been offered to him by major labels for the last four years.
With the Neptunes kicking the right flava in his ear this year, he came over to their musical family and is dropping his debut, Already Platinum, in March. The album's first official single, "Like a Boss," is out now, as is a street cut with Jay-Z, the "I Ain't Heard of That" remix.
Slim Thugger (who actually doesn't look too slim standing next to the gaunt D-O-Double-G), Snoop and the Neptunes were all at the Vibe Awards a few weeks ago in Santa Monica, California. You know we had to holla. Before the much-publicized brawl involving the G-Unit, Dr. Dre and a very wounded alleged assailant, the Star Trak family talked about putting their egos aside and thinking caps on to create studio synergy.
MTV: "Drop It Like It's Hot" is absolutely the hottest record in the club right now, the #2 record on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart ...
Chad Hugo: Snooooooooop!
MTV: You guys are so different, but the chemistry with the Neptunes and you, Snoop, has turned out to be something special.
Snoop Dogg: We love what we do. Anytime you got two people who love the same thing, it don't matter where they come from, what they look like, what they grew up doing. It's about what they do now. We love the same feeling: making people happy off of what we do. We all connect with the same energy. We're all from the same cloth. We all fell from the same tree — bop! bop! bop! — like leaves, and we all just came together.
MTV: A few months before you came over to the camp, Snoop, you were telling us that P. Diddy might be executive-producing your new album. What happened to that?
Snoop: Early in the game, [Diddy] had come at me as a friend and said that he wanted to do my next record. And I was like, "I'm with it." But then our schedules conflicted, and the timing was not appropriate for us. So you know, me and Pharrell had to come together to make something happen. Puff is still my nephew. I love him to death — Vote or Die, ride or die. I'm saying I'm down with him.
MTV: Another guy that got down with you on the album, Snoop, is Justin Timberlake. You actually got him singing and cursing on "Signs." Who set up that collaboration? Was it you, Pharrell?
Pharrell Williams: You could look at it like that if you wanted to, but who doesn't want to do a record with Snoop? He's a cool dude, he understands his direction, he understands where he wants to go. There's not nothing technical to this dude. It is easy and seamless, the way it is supposed to be when you make a record. We're here to have fun, man. We got to celebrate just being happy again. It ain't about the weed, it ain't about how much crack you sell or any of that. We make those kinds of records — I ain't going to stand here and lie to you, we got records like that coming out — but that is not what this album is about. This album is about celebrating how you can still be hard and have gangsterness to your swagger, but at the end of the day it was just about good R&B music.
MTV: So let's talk about that. The album is called R&G (Rhythm and Gangsta): The Masterpiece. Explain how you came up with that.
Snoop: The album is a combination of rhythm and blues, but it's got a little bit of gangster on top of it. I said, "Let me put them both together." Rhythm and Gangsta — R&G instead of R&B, and it is a masterpiece because you got all these great minds with my mind. We all came together with the same goal. When Pharrell heard a track with somebody [else] who produced something for me that was hot, he said, "That's a keeper. That's got to stay on the album."
MTV: We're going to put you on the spot, Snoop. What is it like working with the Neptunes as opposed to working with Dr. Dre?
Snoop: When I work with these guys right here, to be real with you, I feel comfortable like I am working with Dr. Dre. That is a high compliment because don't nobody really know how to produce Snoop Dogg — to give me that sound — but Dre and these guys. When I get down with them, we at the Grammys, we at the Vibe Awards, we everywhere!
MTV: Star Trak now even has representation in the great state of Texas.
Slim Thug: In Texas, the independent game is real big. I been holding it down since '98, doing mixtapes and doing independent records and making good money. I was seeing too much money to settle for what the labels were offering me in 2000. So I stayed grinding.
MTV: The title of your album is a testament to your hustle game, right?
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"A lot of people don't know me, they think I'm a new artist, but I want to show them what I been doing.' - Slim Thug
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Slim: Already Platinum, it's not saying I'mma come out and sell a million records, it's saying I already done sold a million records independently. A lot of people don't know me, they think I'm a new artist, but I want to show them what I been doing.
Pharrell: We're getting ready to put that album out. It's incredible!
MTV: We already heard from Snoop about what it's like for him to be in the lab with the Neptunes. How is the experience for you?
Slim: I think it came together real well. Anyone who is familiar with Pharrell's music knows he can pretty much adapt to anything. [Before he worked with me] he just really asked me a lot of questions about where I'm from and got a good look at how my city was and how my state was. And at the same time, I still got Houston producers on my record to give it that Houston flavor. So I really feel like I am touching all angles of the game.
MTV: Obviously in your region your appeal is not questioned. How do you plan on branching that out with the songs on your album?
Slim: Well, I feel like they're crossover records 'cause that's my style, basically. I don't really just do the same Houston rap as far as talking about sippin' on syrup. Even though that's where I come from, I feel like when I rap, somebody on the West can feel me, somebody in New York can feel me, 'cause it's just real life. I'm saying it how it is. I just talk about being from the 'hood, getting money and being a hustler.
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Photo: Interscope
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