The Hard Way opens with a phone call in which 213 members Snoop Dogg, Warren G, and Nate Dogg bemoan the sad state of West Coast rap. The album that follows seems intent on reclaiming Southern California as the epicenter of gangsta rap, but The Hard Way suffers from both a lack of ambition and a built-in obsolescence. Where West Coast gangsta rap once packed the transgressive kick that fueled Eminem and 50 Cent's rapid ascent to superstardom—thanks in large part, of course, to Snoop Dogg's old mentor Dr. Dre—213's sleepy, second-generation G-funk now feels positively retro.
By this point, G-funk has been around so long that it qualifies as West Coast hip-hop's indigenous folk music, as form-bound in its own way as gospel, blues, or jazz. Snoop Dogg, Warren G, and Nate Dogg, for their part, are traditionalists of the purest sort, devoted to slow-rolling funk grooves, languid rhythms, and lyrics about scandalous women, the joys of marijuana, and gangbanging. On its ironically named debut, 213 makes gangsta rap as easy as Sunday morning.
None of this should come as much of a surprise, since 213's members have individually done a lot to make gangsta rap an accessible form of pop music. California's cuddliest Crip, Snoop Dogg introduced the seemingly paradoxical archetype of the pothead ex-con gangsta as kiddie icon. Nate Dogg's ubiquitous croon, meanwhile, has become as synonymous with Top 40 hip-hop as P. Diddy's hype-man shenanigans, while Warren G's mellow production steered G-funk in the direction of easy listening. Collectively, they amplify each other's pop instincts, resulting in a smooth album that meekly but enjoyably goes where each blunted member has gone countless times before. The hilariously cheesy "Joysticc" probably best exemplifies how far the trio has strayed from anything approaching menace: It's a lascivious ode to male genitalia that's as threatening as Ms. Pac Man.
At 70 minutes, The Hard Way would benefit from some pruning, particularly of songs like "My Dirty Ho," which lapses into self-parody, especially coming in front of the standout track "Appreciation," a sweet slice of sun-baked nostalgia. These Doggs aren't about to learn any new tricks, but their lived-in chemistry, sleepy charisma, and pop instincts make The Hard Way an ideal (albeit tardy) soundtrack to a summer that—in 213's hedonistic fantasyland, at least—never has to end.