Tupac Shakur is dead, but gangsta rap isn't. Yet. Shakur's posthumous CD, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, which he recorded under the name Makaveli, entered the Billboard charts at No. 1. Last week Snoop Doggy Dogg released his new CD, Tha Doggfather, another likely big seller.
But neither of these albums, both on Death Row Records, delivers the goods. The 7 Day Theory boasts complex production and some great tunes but is overwhelmed by exhausted gangsta imagery. As for Tha Doggfather, some of the songs have a narcotic seductiveness, and Snoop slips in a few positive messages. But much...