100. Snoop Dogg feat. Tanvi Shah - Snoop Dogg Millionaire (2009)

In the course of the decade, UK garage went in two main directions, which became dominant in the decade's second half: one is the frenzied and raucous grime, based on rappers; the other is what is known as dubstep, a mainly instrumental style, which combined the broken beats of two-step garage with the mystical sounds of dub, to create something that uplifts both body and soul. But dubstep remained underground, and did not create any pop stars. So it doesn’t really belong in the theater show that we call naughties pop, and may be waiting for the next decade to take the stage. To put it in our show, we'll have to look at it from hip-hop's perspective, and hip-hop discovered dubstep only in 2009.

After conquering the US, Snoop Dogg evidently decided to expand his empire, and started looking for fresh beats from around the world to rap to. When the successful movie Slumdog Millionaire came out, he naturally had to rapitalize, and pun-jobbed it as 'Snoop Dogg Millionaire'. And since this was an Indian movie, the record needed a touch of India, but Snoop recently featured in the bhangra record (and the Bollywood movie) 'Singh in Kinng', so he had to find something else. The solution was found in 'Eastern Jam', a record by dubstep duo Chase and Status, which contains a female Indian singer who blends in wonderfully with the dubby sounds. Snoop makes the record his own, and also grants greater exposure to the style, which seems to be on the brink of entering the mainstream.

I'm not too smitten by what Snoop is doing here, and he's a bit too brash for my taste. I prefer the original record. But I put it in here as a sign of hope that this heralds a deeper dialogue between American hip-hop and UK garage, which will bare fruit in the coming decade.

84. Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell & Charlie Wilson – Beautiful (2003)

By the end of the nineties, Snoop Dogg looked finished. Gangsta-rap lost its cachet, his collaboration with Dr. Dre fell apart, and his attempts at trying softer directions did not gain the popularity that his gangsta braggadocio brought him. He also had serious trouble with the law, and the feeling was that he was burned out. But then, he hooked up with the sexy and bouncy style of the Neptunes, wrapping his flow perfectly around it, and recreated himself in a cute, romantic and lovable image. His private language is silly as hell, but he manages to make even that sound like the coolest thing in the world. This little sizzle proves that Snoop is still the dopest thing in pop.

Snoop Dogg - Beautiful
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14. Snoop Dogg feat. Charlie Wilson & Justin Timberlake - Signs (2005)

The hip-hop takeover of the beginning of the decade was responsible for getting all sorts of ghetto culture behaviors incorporated into the dominant culture, opening new avenues for ghetto kids. Driving and supervising the process were the gangsta-rappers, considered public enemies number one in the nineties, but now accepted by the entertainment industry and finding more positive ways to get their message across. Dr. Dre and Jay-Z shaped the musical sound of the period, Ice T and Ice Cube played in movie and TV dramas that dealt with street culture and discussed its problems seriously, and Coolio hosted a TV show that turned clunkers into pimpmobiles. But above all it was Snoop Dogg, who became one of the most beloved figures in showbiz, and made everyone feel good in a variety of ways.

This is the last great record of G-funk. Justin Timberlake has a crush on a chick, and Snoop tries to talk him out of it, explaining to him that he doesn't stand a chance, because she only goes for gangster types. Still, he also tries to help him and show him how you should approach such women, until Charlie Wilson intervenes, and tells Justin that he is wasting his time, because he will never be Snoop. You can hear it as an allegory for the black artists' reaction to the whites who suddenly entered their world and tried to succeed in their game, or you can just enjoy the contrast between Justin's funky singing and Snoop's laid-back rap, Snoop's attempt at singing a little bit himself, the soulful dose that the veteran Wilson suddenly injects into the record, and another ace production by the Neptunes.

Looking back, though, this record marks the end of that period. This was the last Neptunes production that was a masterpiece, the last time the pimp style seemed cheeky and not offensive, the last time we were surprised to hear voices from different genres coming together in harmony, the last time Timberlake was truly fun. Mainstream hip-hop, after 2004, became bloated, decadent and boring. Only Snoop remained Snoop.