There’s a lot to say about 7 Days of Funk, but conversely, you really only need to say, this is some deliriously funky shit. It’s to be expected from the two funkiest men to have spent serious time in the (213). 2013 has proved the durability of the 40-plus rapper. Eminem and Jay-Z will easily wind up at or near the top-selling releases, but both disappointed me (even with my adjusted expectations of 2013 Jay and Marshall). I found them technically solid but joyless albums that failed to grasp what exactly made them so appealing in the first place.
7 Days of Funk has nothing to do with why everyone first loved Snoop. Sure, he’s always sounded right over funk-based production, but if you were there when Snoop first crushed the buildings, he was pretty terrifying. Watch him at the 95 Source Awards, menacing scowl on his face, throwing up his set, rapping “Murder was the Case,” with a murder case pending. Contrast that with this incarnation of SnoopZilla and you see a deceptively versatile artist willing to experiment. Admittedly, Dam’s production carries the song, but Snoop has always had the power to float over tracks and on a song that grooves this hard, it’s exactly what’s needed. His raps never overwhelm the beat and it’s one of those summer LA BBQ songs that LA seemed to effortlessly churn out in the 90s, but rarely does anymore.
Shot by Henry DeMaio, the video taps into the nostalgic vibe with a good sense of humor. This isn’t some sterile recreation, telling you that the 80s and 90s being better, but rather the graf-scarred, afros and pop-locking vibe that few reading this actually remember. The goals are minimal but well-stated. As Dam has said, funk is a smile and a tear drop. You hear songs like this and disappear into some imagined utopia. Warm weather, no traffic, the perfect day to grill, etc. But then you listen to the lyrics with the tinge of melancholy. A relationship disintegrating, begging to turn back time to make it right. The message is simple, but simplicity is often the most effective, especially when you can bob your head to it.
