Calvin Broadus delivers his third and final No Limit album, titled The Last Meal, as it’s the last time anyone is going to eat off his plate. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Snoop try to reinvent himself, by affiliating himself with the No Limit all-stars, with disastrous results. Songs like “Woof” and “Still A G Thing” didn’t pack the punch of previous Snoop Dogg classics, yet Snoop still kept our attention with Dr. Dre produced tracks like “Bitch Please” and “Just Dippin’” from his last album, No Limit Top Dogg. With his latest release, Snoop realizes that it’s time to go back to the drawing board, and give the people want they want from him ? that muthafuckin’ west coast g-shit!

While The Last Meal finally gets the formula right, and is his best album since Doggystyle, it still remains largely uneven. It begins with a bang, with the humorous “I Want To Be Free” intro, and keeps the listeners attention for the first half, but slowly get progressively worse from track to track. “Hennesey & Buddah” welcomes you to the D-Oh-Double G’s world ? executed perfectly with Dre’s production, Snoop’s cool vocals, and Kokane’s adlibs. The trend continues all the way through “Wrong Idea” (feat. Bad Azz), and the Timbaland produced “Set It Off”, (feat. N.W.A. and Lady Of Rage), but things begin to turn sour once “Lay Low” hits. “Lay Low” could have been an incredible track, as Dre’s beat kicks the door down, backed by classic styles of Nate Dogg and Snoop ? yet is ruined by unlistenable verses from Tha Eastsidaz and Master P.

“Lay Low” is in fact symbolic evidence that Snoop may have possibly spread himself too thin throughout the course of his career, picking up one-too-many lesser talented crew members along the way. It becomes evident when people like Master P, The No Limit Soldiers, Suga Free, The Eastsidaz and others start appearing on several of the album’s later tracks, shamelessly using the album as a vehicle to promote these artists, and in turn sacrificing his artistic integrity.

In comparison to Death Row’s Dead Man Walkin’, overall, the album is better, based on the fact that the production matches today’s standards, yet with Death Row’s release, the over-abundance guests that fault The Last Meal, are not present ? just a hungry Snoop, barely out his teen years.

Much like No Limit Top Dogg, when the ante is upped, and the professionals like Dre and Timbaland lend their production to the album, it sounds excellent. Even lesser heavy hitters like “Stacey Adams” and “Everywhere I Go” will get you through the day, but when the album gets bad, it becomes just like any other thrown together Snoop project from the last few years. As evident from this release, Snoop has the potential to make incredible joints ? now only if he could master the science of making an incredible album.