When a successful artist changes their name, it’s a formidable feat to maintain continued success on a level comparable to the former.

In hip-hop it does happen every once in awhile, and for good reason. Juicy J exploded back on the scene from his Three6 Mafia days, 2 Chains is garnering more views than he ever did in his former Playaz Circle crew, and Eminem has switch between different alter-egos his entire career. One thing an artist almost never pulls off is a name change, a reshaping of personal beliefs, and then a throwback G-funk rap release, but to be fair no one else but Snoop Lion has tried.

“7 Days of Funk” is a 9 track collaboration between Snoop (dubbed Snoopzilla when reverting back to his funk-form) and producer Dam-Funk that sets Snoop’s recent Jamaican-influenced music path aside to reimagine his G-funk upbringing for a full-feature project. Standouts from the album include “Let it Go”, in which Snoop tries his hand at a little Nate Dogg-esque singing in addition to his verses, “Ride” featuring fellow veteran Kurupt, which boasts a light-hearted melody over the duo bringing their classic gangster attitude to the lyrics, and “Hit Da Pavement”, the opening track that sets up listeners for the flashback to the good ol’ days.

Snoopzilla, along with Dam-Funk have brought together the reminiscent feel of old-school rap with the best of the new-school influence. “7 Days of Funk” is not distinguished as a running project or the first in a series of releases from the two artists, however if it’s one thing the music scene needs, it’s a good sounding reminder of where it came from.