Snoop Dogg and Dâm-Funk are smooth as whipped butter that’s been sitting out on the counter.

It’s a Friday afternoon in mid-November, and for almost four hours, I’ve been waiting in the lobby of Stones Throw, the label that’s releasing the duo’s collaborative album 7 Days of Funk. Finally, I’m ushered in for the interview, and both stand, open their arms and slather me with sweetness. Snoop rubs my shoulders and Dâm pays me a compliment. I know the ol’ flirt-for-forgiveness routine, but they’re both so damn sincere-sounding, I melt.

“We saved the best for last, baby,” Snoop, who’s dubbed himself “Snoopzilla” for this record, says with a smile.

Both Dâm-Funk (a moniker derived from his real name, Damon Riddick) and Snoop Dogg are reclining, wearing sunglasses and casual clothes—Dâm in a Stussy sweatshirt, and Snoop in an Adidas tracksuit. Their facial hair is nearly identical. Both puff on Swishers. They look good. Smell good. Finish each other’s sentences. If you didn’t know better, you’d think they were brothers. “Brother from another,” Dam says.

“One thing about California, whatever went on in Dâm’s neighborhood went on in my neighborhood,” Snoop continues, noting that the two are only a couple months apart in age. “So when me and Dâm were able to get together, we didn’t have to talk about what our influences were. You could see it.”

Dâm-Funk has been a pioneer of the modern funk sound for years now, creating one of L.A.’s sweatiest, most democratic dance parties, Funkmosphere, where he and guest DJs like Peanut Butter Wolf spin silky, sexy records by everybody from Steven Arrington to DJ Quik. For his part, Snoop Dogg has long incorporated elements of funk in his songs, bringing legends like Charlie Wilson and Bootsy Collins on board. Combine their similar childhood experiences, their shared affinity for the music they were steeped in and their compatibility, and it’s no wonder 7 Days of Funk is such a perfect collaboration—not the mention the most natural Snoop has sounded on record in years. He alternately croons pimp-ish pillow talk and raps in his signature smoked-out yet taut flow (which still has a bite, by the way) over Dâm-Funk’s slippery, head-bobbing beats. And it’s FUN.

“Well, if you take the ‘k’ off ‘funk,’ it’s nothing but fun,” Snoop says. Right on.

1. COOL CATS

Snoopzilla: [The album] was about just finding something that felt GOOD. Dâm had so much music that he had been sitting on, that he had been wanting to play for me for years. I had so many thoughts in my mind that I wanted to say. So it was just a matter of us coming together. He played a couple of tracks, and they was banging, but it wasn’t the one. When he played the one? We knew it was the one. We kept listening, and saying, “Go back to that other one.” And that’s the first song on the album [“Hit Da Pavement”]. First song you hear is the first song we made.

When I went to his apartment, he had a cat. I fuckin’ love cats. I used to have cats. You wouldn’t think that I would have a cat. Dâm trying to hide the cat! I’m like, “Motherfucker, if you don’t let the cat out!” And the cat knocking at the door like [knocks on the table]: “He like me, Daddy, let me out!” I’m like, “Dâm, let the motherfuckin’ cat hang out!” So we let the cat hang out. And you could just feel our vibe was like—

Dâm-Funk: He knew it was cool.

2. WEST WEST Y’ALL

Snoopzilla: We’re the same age. Couple months apart. One thing about California, whatever went on in Dâm’s neighborhood went on in my neighborhood. Whatever games they played on the streets, we played. Whatever shoe styles were in, whatever jackets, it may have been a color difference, but everything was the exact same. The conversation, the lingo, we learned it all at the same time. It went from this part of California to that part of California. But it was all taught the same way. So when me and Dâm were able to get together, we didn’t have to talk about what our influences were. You could see it. When we pulled up, we wore the same kinda clothes, had the same kinda feel.

Snoopzilla: Yeah, we on the same shit! I could shop for Dâm, Dâm could shop for me. For everything. From food to clothes to preference to—

Dâm-Funk: Dr. Pepper, A&W—

Snoopzilla: All of it! We want that “Ahhhh!”

3. BACK IN THE DAY

Snoopzilla: Hairstyle. Candy. Cereal. Favorite cartoons.

Dâm-Funk: What’s Happening!!, Godzilla…

Snoopzilla: And that’s just Saturday! Channel 5. Popeye the Sailor Man, Tom Slick, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle…

Dâm-Funk: Exactly! [Laughs.]

Snoopzilla: This the shit that motherfuckers that don’t come from our area don’t know shit about it! But me and him, it draws a smile. That’s the same shit that when he say something, or he got his pants creased a certain way—I teach motherfuckers in my crew how to iron they pants! Creased, baby!

Dâm-Funk: [Laughing.] We just like it neat. It comes from back in the day, you don’t have too many clothes so you take pride in your clothes. I used to iron my money. Did you ever do that?

Snoopzilla: Yes, nigga! [They both die laughing.] You want that shit to fold properly!

Dâm-Funk: That was only for a short period.

Snoopzilla: Yeah, when ya money was loooong!

Dâm-Funk: [Laughing.] In the neighborhood we grew up in, everybody wanted to be fly. We just looked up to the older cats. And then you eventually get sloppy, but I don’t think we ever got sloppy. We always cared about ladies and good music.

4. PIMP TIGHT

Snoopzilla: One thing about us on the West Coast? As men, the real men from the West, we pride ourselves on our hair. Making sure we look good, making sure we smell good, that we can approach a woman with class, and she can see the difference between a boy and a man. That’s one thing the players instilled in us. We had that mentality. They keep their hair right, their nails, they drive nice cars, they always dress right. That’s a characteristic that our era mastered. We mastered that.

We were taught that. The forefathers—the macks and the pimps and the players before us were flawless. I had a pimp in my neighborhood that drove a light blue Rolls Royce, wore light blue every day and all his bitches wore light blue. He had a club, and he was the flyest motherfucker in the world. When he’d pull up on you, he’d give you a couple dollars and wink at you and you’d be like, “Damn, I wanna be like that motherfucker.” So as soon as I got some money I went and got me baby blue car, baby blue outfits. Trying to match him! And I see that my persona is a little bit of him, as well as a little bit of the people I’m inspired by.

5. BEING IN THE MOMENT

Dâm-Funk: For me, I’ve always been listening to this type of music, so I really looked at it as a fresh slate. I looked at working with Snoop as fresh and new. I didn’t really try to duplicate anything. It was more in the moment. The songs I was picking and sending to him or played for him at the pad, it was just that moment. But I’ve always listened to groups like Change and Mtume and Loose Ends, of course, and P-Funk and Zapp. It was more of a fresh slate with Snoop. Wait until you hear some deeper stuff, like nine-minute epics.

Snoopzilla: Yeah, we just got our feet wet right now. When we go all the way in, when we go underwater boogie on the next one? The people requested this. We heard the fans and we gave it to ‘em. I know some of the great musicians would’ve loved to have worked with each other. I’ve had James Ingram and Charlie Wilson in the studio together, never worked together. So I always told myself if I ever became a musician, I’ma work with everybody I wanted to work with, old, new and the same age. I’ve done basically worked with everybody I wanted to in the past, now it’s time to work with my equivalents like Dâm.

6. BROTHERS FROM ANOTHER

Snoopzilla: We’re like brothers. On some real shit, I fuck with a lot of people in this music industry and this game in general. Dâm-Funk is an extension of my family. He’s like a brother to me. A lot of guys, I look at them like my nephews, because I’m like their uncle. But I look at Dâm as my equal. When I’m your uncle, I’m a little bit more to you because I have to give you wisdom and guidance, tell you when you’re wrong and help you out when you need it. But when we brothers, you can help me more than I can help you. We feed off each other. And I been needing that. It’s always been me being the oldest, the one who takes the lead, now I can sit back and enjoy it from the passenger seat.

Dâm-Funk: I feel the same way. Brother from another. It’s just natural and feels right.

7. FOR THE LOVE OF THE FUNK

Dâm-Funk: The way radio is constructed right now, there’s a lot of Southern-type music on, which is great. We love that. We grew up on Geto Boys. But there’s a different type of sound people wanna hear, and I think this project is giving DJs an opportunity to put a little bit of different stuff in their crates. Missing this type of sound, with Snoop’s vocals and how he’s arranging things. That’s what I consider the void [in music today].

Snoopzilla: I totally agree. So many people have run from it. We run from what we created. We created this funk vibe. It’s only right to go back to our natural origin. A lot of times we try to be so different, so original, so fly, that we lose focus on what made us who we are. This is the shit that made us who we are. That’s why the response is so [good]. It feels so natural. It’s not forced. I’m doing it cause I have to do it.

Dâm-Funk: I’ll never forget one very successful West Coast rapper who will go unnamed. I was in a session and I was just doing keyboards, but the call was, “No claps on the track!” They wanted to do something new, but they ran from—

Snoopzilla: The shit that made him.

Dâm-Funk: Exactly. I never forgot that. I just never stopped. Both of us can stick to a sound we like and do it from our hearts. It’s not about sticking to a sound, but just doing what we like. And not trying to chase the marketplace.

 

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