A friend who has sent several good records our way to check out dropped  “Doggystyle Restyled: A Tribute To Snoop Dogg” on me the other day.

“What started out as a crazy idea one night over drinks is actually really now happening! On Dec 17th Engine Room will be releasing our tribute album to Snoop Doggy Dogg’s classic debut Doggystyle…an album that believe it or not just celebrated its 20th Anniversary!

Our concept was to recruit bands that didn’t have a traditional hip-hop sound and to take them out of their element by challenging them to cover these legendary hip-hop songs to see what would happen. The result was definitely interesting to say the least and we couldn’t be more pleased. Garrison Starr turned “Gin And Juice” in to a beautiful heartfelt acoustic piece, Holy Folk produced a Modest Mouse-esque version of “Ain’t No Fun”, andThe Tubetops took “Lodi Dodi” in to a magical land of trippy new wave synth pop.”

Now look kiddos, I remember when Snoop dropped that og shit on us back in the day and it changed the game for so many people in the whole industry, so you know I was on top of this one. Like I thought it would, it pretty much kicks butt all the way through.

A collection of different styles and angles on Snoop’s “songs” that takes a sharp turn at every stop, everything from rock to jazz to samples and strings make every treatment of the well known raps a completely new experience.

I’m pretty sure every one on the mid tenn team will take an interest in this one, so I’m going to weigh in on my current favorite off the disc, “Gin and Juice,” and wait to hear from the rest of the gang on it. The original “Gin and Juice” blared out of every speaker in town for months when it hit. And we all still jam on the The Gourds’ version of it, but Garrison Starr really turned it on its head with her arrangement – which is just the tops in my book.