Snoop Dogg

In a recent issue of Rolling Stone, Snoop Dogg was portrayed as a brand, a man who uses his persona to sell all kinds of products, from adult DVDs (Girls Gone Wild) to Internet providers (AOL). It's probably the most accurate allegory for the multiple roles any successful artist must play in the new millennium. Thankfully, Snoop Dogg occasionally churns out hits in between his acting and pitchman jobs, and the most recent, "Drop It Like It's Hot," is as good as any he's released in the past several years. Floating over a throwback track (think Schoolly-D and Mantronix) produced by the Neptunes, it dominated clubs during autumn, making his upcoming concert less of a chance to pay homage to the man who pioneered G-funk than an opportunity to party with a hip-hop superstar who's still relevant.