Bones OST

At this stage, gangsta rap has all but imploded under the weight of relentless self-parody.

Nobody seems more determined to cement this state of affairs than Snoop Dogg, whose new movie Bones provides the perfect opportunity for another sustained bout of self-aggrandisement. The soundtrack features eight tracks from the canine one himself, and contributions from seemingly any hip-hop crew who happened to have a free weekend around recording time.

Promising opener ‘Birth Of Jimmy Bones’ suggests the passing of years has finally mellowed out the perennially bellicose Snoop: ‘Black folks livin’ together, workin’ together, educatin’, it’s all love – Jimmy, your legend lives on’.

However, any hope that this marks a move into fresh territory turns out to be painfully premature. The smoky funk of ‘Birth Of Jimmy Bones’ gives way to the belligerent hip-hop of ‘Legend Of Jimmy Bones’, and a return to the macho posturing of yore: ‘Everywhere your bitch ass turn I’m in front of you/Muthafuckas wanna scream but they choke/Grab your bitch to suck dick while I smoke this dope.’

The record pretty much continues in this vein, with the non-Snoop tracks equally as uninspiring, be they the bland R’n’B of the Lost Angels/Kokane collaboration ‘Lost Angels In The Sky’, or D12’s less than fascinating thoughts on various illegal pharmaceuticals, ‘These Drugs’. How William DeVaughan’s sublime lounge classic ‘Be Thankful’ got dragged into this is anyone’s guess, but its brilliance almost makes it worth the slog through the preceding rubbish.

Ultimately he refrains, since it would be an act of violence of which Snoop would no doubt approve.