There is time as scientists undertand it, a 24-hour cycle ruled by planetary orbits, the sun and moon, and the occasional smoke break. And then there is time for Snoop Dogg, a man who inhabits a galaxy in which the Gregorian calendar has no role, and whose Rolex wristwatch is permanently glued to 4:20.

Indeed, there was something inherently logical about the second installment of Calvin Broadus' #PuffPuffPassTuesdays dropping late Wednesday. Whereas Week 1  premiered "El Lay," another Snoop hometown ode, Week 2 tackles his "political" side.

As he claims on the intro to "Gangbang Rookie," "I ain't a member of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. I represent the Gangster Party." This may explain why Bill O' Reilly has never come around on him.

Then again, it's been nearly 20 years since the pipe-cleaner-built and braided Broadus first repped the Long Beach Crips. And even though the decades have brought the family-friendly Uncle Snoop guise, gangsta rap will forever remain a safe pose for Snoop. So it goes when you are responsible for a million teenagers learning what the acronym "LBC" stands for. 

Right now, Snoop's the quintessential wily veteran. His lyrical content has been largely static for nearly a decade and a half, but he's got silver screen charisma, and when you have such a great ear for beats, you can always paper over your shortcomings. On "Gangbang Rookie," Snoop enlists the chameleonic gifts of Seattle producer Jake One, who has effortlessly straddled the mainstream and hip-hop worlds like few of his peers.

Last year's Rhymesayers-released "The Stimulus Package" (done in collaboration with Freeway) proved Jake One's ability to craft a coherent album-length statement, while his recent productions for T.I. and the Ghostface Killah have stood out as high points on their respective efforts. Through an innate musicality and gift for precise arrangements, Jake One wrings new life out of ostensibly played-out soul-based hip-hop. Thankfully, he understands that the slick piano rolls and elegiac brass riffs will never go out of style if done correctly.

Snoop keeps it on cruise-control, aware that all he needs to do is float atmospherically. No one will ever mistake this for his "Doggystyle" vintage, but he's been on a hot streak of late. See also "That Good," his collaboration with Wiz Khalifa that's racked up roughly 150,000 YouTube views in just three days. Both artists understand an essential truth about humanity, one that will afford them a commercial longevity that their more gifted peers will never see. After all, there will always be an unlimited supply of stoned college kids.

-- Jeff Weiss

Download: (via Nah Right)
MP3: Snoop Dogg ft. Pilot --"Gangbang Rookie"

Snoop Dogg has always been more early adopter than inventor. The lanky Long Beach veteran certainly didn't invent gangsta rap, but he helped to perfect it, bringing a balance to the often overheated genre with his cool, crisp drawl and melodic flow.

When he noticed the balance of power shifting to the South, he became a No Limit soldier and collaborated with Master P, Mystikal and Silkk the Shocker. He joined the first batch of rappers using Auto-Tune, but used it for his own sleazy means to croon silk-robed come-ons about sexual eruptions. It's the same smooth calculation he still uses to stay relevant today, working with Wiz Khalifa, the prince of the next generation of stoner rappers, at a time when most of his peers are forced into early retirement.

Beyond an innate charisma that Obama might envy, Calvin Broadus' genius has always been to be a half-step ahead of the trends. He's capable of catching fads at the apex of their popularity, before they become played out.

Accordingly, after Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Fridays were the talk of every music blog all fall, the ever-savvy Snoop is launching his #PuffPuffPassTuesdays with the Scoop Deville-produced "El Lay." A significant portion of his marketing acumen comes from being able to write songs with broad appeal. Hence, a recent single, "New Year's Eve," which was released just in time for radio DJs looking for holiday material.

Unsurprisingly, Snoop's PR team notes that "El Lay" is released to coordinate with next month's NBA All-Star game, hosted in the city of Angels -- not to mention his 11th studio album, "Doggumentary Music," slated for a March release on Capitol. The latest cut is much very much aligned with Snoop's traditional aesthetic-- a permanently laid glide groove tailor-made for smooth drives in fast cars. Hook man Marty James croons about "rolling down the 405," while Snoop describes a typical day "rolling down Fairfax ... bust a left turn on Pico ... gotta see the Bishop, he got me some gator shoes/Gotta roll to Hollywood/I'm at the House of Blues." Rest assured, Snoop isn't slipping -- he makes a later stop at his dispensary to buy some kush.

There are some artists you want to challenge conventions and traditions, experiment and expand art forms. Snoop isn't one of them -- at least he's not right now. In 2011, "El Lay" is exactly what we should expect from the city's honorable stoned uncle: funk-riddled ride music that's impossible to deny within the 213, 818, 323 and 310 area codes.

-- Jeff Weiss

Download: (via 2 Dope Boyz)

MP3: Snoop Dogg ft. Marty James-"El Lay"

Last year, few producers could match the prolificacy of Terrace Martin. He released a collaborative EP with Frank Nitt, a full-length with Kurupt, and a Marvin Gaye-inspired record called, "Here, My Dear." And that was in addition to the dozens of beats he farmed out to other rappers.

But less than a week into 2011, the Locke High School graduate has also staked the new year as his own. His first salvo was "Melrose," a collaboration with venerable underground hero Murs that found the pair "taking a ride down Melrose Blvd," eating at food trucks, flirting with beautiful women, and hanging out with Barney, the Purple Dinosaur. Just a breezy afternoon with 6-foot-tall prehistoric beasts, shutterbug tourists and Lala's Chicken -- one that racked them up 13,000-plus YouTube views in less than 48 hours. 

Able to shift effortlessly between the former Fat Beats set and the MTV crowd, Martin has collaborated with Snoop Dogg since at least 2006's "The Blue Carpet Treatment." So it was only natural he enlisted the Long Beach legend for "Exersize," a track on next month's "Sex EP." The pair's natural chemistry reveals itself immediately, as Martin offers Snoop keyboards brighter than the Staples Center, plus auroral flute trills. The beat rolls like a Sunday afternoon Crenshaw Boulevard blunt cruise, and no one handles that terrain quite like Snoop, who kicks his effortless flow, complete with Morris Day and the Time and Rock the Vote references. To its credit, it would've worked in 1991, 2001, or right now.

Rapper Snoop Dogg and comedian-actor-rapper Mike Epps don’t want to give away a lot about what audiences will encounter in “Imagine That!,” the collaborative live show they’re bringing to the Gibson Amphitheater on Wednesday.

But it’s safe to say there’s one thing people shouldn’t expect from these two: understatement.

“I felt like with my comedy and my music, and him being so funny, that we could come together and do something like nobody never did,”  Epps, 39, said in a recent interview with Snoop Dogg, a.k.a. Calvin Broadus. “It will have a lot of different facets: film, comedy, live performances. We have dancing girls, we have a band, sets, glitter -- everything like a musical and standup comedy all in one, just like back in the '30s, like at the Cotton Club.”

The loose concept on which they based “Imagine That!” is that of two characters, closely resembling Snoop Dogg and Epps, who are thrown in jail together on marijuana possession charges and brainstorm ideas for a club they plan to open once they are released. Epps will be the emcee, Snoop Dogg the main talent.

“Dogg is singing and everything,” said Epps, who hosted this year’s BET Hip-Hop Awards. “It’s going to shock you when you see him in a different element.”

A promotional video for “Imagine That!” shows the rapper, also 39, in musical segments playing a Rick James-like rock-R&B star, and another in which he’s a romantic soul crooner, roles that Snoop relishes.

“I don’t think of myself as a hip-hop artist,” Snoop said. “I think of myself as a rock star.”

The rapper says “Imagine That!” will be a mix of scripted and improvised material. The message?  “The only message is to have fun,” Snoop said.

Added Epps:  “We’re just entertaining people, so we’re going to keep it as entertainment. If somebody comes and gets a good message out of it, congratulations to them on that.”

Beyond impending live performances, the two men envision a broader reach for their show. But not Broadway.

“I don’t know if Broadway can handle this,” Snoop said. “My goal is to get it into more theaters, on TV and get a real situation going; we want to become a real corporation and get into the funny business around the world, have a show in Vegas and have people flying in from all over the world, like they did for Frank [Sinatra] and Dean [Martin].”

Said Epps: “This thing has got so many wheels to it. There’s a real sincerity to it, but it’s got the entertainment too.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Snoop Dogg, left. Credit: Bryan Bedder / Getty Images

Photo of Mike Epps. Credit: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

Fresh off a triumphant performance of "Doggystyle" at this year's Rock the Bells, Snoop Dogg has announced that he has begun work on its sequel, "Doggystyle 2: The Doggumentary." The only catch is that it will be produced by Swizz Beatz, not Dr. Dre, who produced the entirety of the original.

The information was relayed via a YouTube viral video, presumably recorded after a long night of recording. Holding up a CD-R, Snoop claimed that he'd cut 18 songs that evening. To which Beatz, best known for his production work with DMX and Ruff Ryders Entertainment artists, added, "that’s how we used to do it back in the day. It's not about the single, it's about the sound. So we constructing sounds for the album."

Declaring that Swizz "laced his boots up" for the new record, Snoop boasted that the producer, who is Alicia Keys' husband, had given him some gangsta [stuff], some crib [stuff], some R&B [stuff,] some hip hop [stuff,] hard [stuff], and some mean [stuff.]”

The forthcoming record doesn't lack predecedent. In fact, it dovetails with a recent trend among veteran rappers. Last year, Chef Raekwon scored a critical and commercial triumph with his "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2." More recently, Capone-N-Noreaga released "The War Report 2." Other planned sequels reportedly include Redman's "Muddy Waters 2" and the GZA's "Liquid Swords 2."

Forget aging gracefully -- aging strangely is far more interesting. Indeed, the last few years have seen '90s rap superstars transition into their late 30s and 40s with different approaches.

There's the dignified mogul archetype of Jay-Z, who has fulfilled his ambition of becoming rap's Frank Sinatra. There's Ghostface Killah, who recorded an R&B/rap hybrid record touching on "mature" themes from adultery to the difficulties of sustaining long-term love.  And there's Chef Raekwon's "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" strategy, where he continues to produce artful songs within the confines of a familiar aesthetic.

Snoop Dogg has had one of the most endearing evolutions, transforming from a cold-blooded gangsta rapper into a lovable stoned uncle. Indeed, there's nothing too bizarre for Snoop: country songs dedicated to weed ("My Medicine"); Auto-Tuned retro funk jams ("Sensual Seduction"); guest hosting "WWE Raw." But then, he's also serving as the creative chairman of Priority Records. Eighteen years after "Deep Cover," Snoop remains at the top of the charts, collaborating with Katy Perry and still highly sought after for cameos.

While none of his recent incarnations will make you toss your copy of "Doggystyle," they're always ingratiating and fun. Unlike many of his peers, Snoop is relentlessly self-aware and always willing to poke fun at himself and others, a quality that has served him well.

His latest hash-brained scheme is a series of viral videos, aimed at garnering the attention of various celebrities. It's all in the promotion of his latest project, "My #1 Priority," a compilation of the greatest Priority Records cuts of the last 25 years -- and of course, Snoop himself.

After the jump, click to see a series of videos of Snoop beseeching "Weird Al" Yankovic to write a parody song with him, Justin Bieber to holler at him and Kim Kardashian to show his friend her new tattoo, among others. It's typically strange, which is to say that it's quintessentially Snoop.

-- Jeff Weiss