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Snoop rides ’80s sounds on ‘Trippin’

West Coast banger and seasoned hip-hop veteran Snoop Dogg is still kickin’ it.

Flashing his credentials of fatherhood to 15 years of being in the game, his laid back, crip-walkin’ gangsta persona has kept him moving Cali-style into stardom.

Courtesy Photo — Geffen Records.

On his ninth studio album, “Ego Trippin’,” Snoop flexes his fingers (moving them toward a large blunt), his vocals and his music for fresh, appealing songs, while still toasting his pimp status. He still keeps it cool — that’s what he’s known for — but the fluidity of his rhymes fused with the salty, retro vibes may be a little startling for Snoop’s diehard fans.

“Ego Trippin’” starts off well, using ’80s R&B artist and new jack swing creator/producer Teddy Riley to jumpstart the album. Riley aids Snoop in breaking out of his shell, mixing an ’80s revival feel with some funk befitting to Snoop’s charm. One of the beginning tracks, “SD is Out,” is a club-synth song, definitely for parties aged 30 and up, featuring Gap Band vocalist Charlie Wilson. Rhyming about iced-out parties and beautiful women over misty piano riffs and peppered, buoyant beats gives Snoop a splash of glory.

Other Riley-produced tracks, “Gangsta Like Me” and a cover of the early ’80s funk crew, The Time’s “Cool,” has Snoop finding new ways to use the word “motherfucker,” allowing him to jump back to intense, thug street-talking.

The D-O-double-G, surprises on his first released single, “Sexual Eruption,” (censored version: “Sensual Seduction”) with sweet, sensual strings and repetitive bell chirps. It’s a nice slow jam with a priceless music video, one to which you can still move your feet, and producer Shawty Redd gives some sleek sounds to heighten Snoop’s vocoder-assisted voice as he sings: “I’m gonna take my time / she gon’ get hers before I / I’m going to take it slow / I’m not going to rush the stroke / So she can get a sexual eruption.”

Pharrell Williams with The Neptunes makes a guest appearance, showcasing their typically hot, percussive sounds with Latin-inspired melodies on “Sets Up.” Snoop and Pharrell can always manage a fire track (“Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “Beautiful,” “Let’s Get Blown”), and this one sounds like “Beautiful — Part 2.” It begins with a quick line in Spanish followed by a bold Pharrell, breaking the chorus in with choppy rhythms: “ Sets up / Chest out / In and out, In and out / Lift your heart / Lift your arm / In a circle, in a circle / Swaying out, Hanging out / Bang out / Show these motherfuckers right where you’re from.”

Although the track is halfway through the album, it’s the culmination of the album’s title. Snoop delivers menacing lyrics, testifying to his street life and boasting raps about his rise to the good life. “Coolest of the cool, I’m the goddamn man / Heat is so hot, need a goddamn fan / Everybody want gangsta, suckas don’t live it … / That’s not the Big Boss Dogg / I’ve been in it since a youngin’ / I’m an East Side Hog.”

As the tracks pile up on the album, the songs get longer and less fulfilling. Whipping cars and sexing bitches are apparently not over for Snoop Dogg on the tracks like “Whateva You Do,” “Ridin’ in My Chevy” and “Those Gurlz.” With 21 tracks, he should have sliced off the dead weight and re-edited the dense, unimaginative songs. I give him credit, though, for branching out to the country/western genre with the help of producer/artist Everlast for a Johnny Cash-inspired track called “My Medicine.”

Snoop has created a cohesive, flavorful album that let’s him re-emerge as a rapper who hasn’t strayed too far from the game. Even without the help of his partner, Dr. Dre, he still takes his music to a new level, embracing the new and the old.