Snoop Dogg, who redubbed himself as Snoop Lion for his early 2013 reggae album Reincarnated, has now re-redubbed himself as Snoopzilla for a collaborative funk album with Dâm-Funk, entitled 7 Days of Funk. The pair met at the SXSW Festival two years ago, and this project emerged from that performance.

About the collaboration, Snoop stated: “We’re the babies of the Mothership. I’ve had funk influences in my music my whole career. Dâm-Funk is cold. He’s keeping the funk alive and I knew I had to get down with him.” The Mothership refers to the funk-nasty grooves of Parliament and Funkadelic, bands whose influence is felt throughout all genres of music. The moniker “Snoopzilla” is actually a tribute to Bootsy Collins, a Funkadelic member who routinely performed as “Bootzilla.”

Dâm-Funk is a veteran funk musician, who works for Stones Throw Records. Aside from creating original music, Dâm-Funk is a producer, has collaborated with several well-known artists, and has released two electronic drum kits (Dam-Drum and Dam-Drum 2).

So how is their collaboration? Well, I’ll come at this from two approaches.

First off, 7 Days of Funk isn’t really a traditional funk album. When I think funk, I think deep, moving bass lines. I think wah-ed out guitar progressions. Horns. Grooves. That sort of thing.

7 Days of Funk doesn’t have any of that. As a hip-hop album, 7 Days is great. Each track rolls through vastly open soundscapes, with a light touch of electro-crunch bass that drive each melody. The vocals bounce between R&B refrains/harmonies and hip-hop rhymes, as dropped by the Snoopzilla himself.

Take a song like “Let It Go.” The chorus makes for some great R&B vocals by Snoop and Dâm-Funk, the rapped lyrics are smooth, and the guitar solo fills are a nice funky touch. But listen to this, then listen to an actual Parliament song. There’s a considerable difference. And I’m not qualifying this difference. Music is music; there is no right or wrong.

Just don’t be fooled. 7 Days of Funk is a good album, but it lacks that heavy space bass quality that us funk fans have come to expect. Even “Faden Away,” the album’s lead single, has a bit more of that funky sound in the bass intro, but it eventually dissolves into R&B musical themes. It’s a great song, don’t get me wrong, but I just can’t, in good faith, refer to it as a Day of Funk.

Okay, I’m done dwelling on genres. I like the whole Snoopzilla vibe; it’s nice to see Snoop trying new things. You should listen to the album for yourself, courtesy of NPR, streaming for free until its December 10th release date. Let me know how funky you find it!

-David Melamed (@DMelamz)