Album review: Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Mac & Devin Go to High School’

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As its title suggests, Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa’s new collaborative album imparts an academic theme. “Mac & Devin Go to High School” is the soundtrack to a forthcoming movie in which the two rappers play a pair of students (Snoop Dogg a “15-year senior,” according to a news release) who teach each other the difference between book smarts and street smarts. And indeed, there is an almost scholarly attention to detail here, at least in regard to these MCs’ joint field of expertise: “I Get Lifted”? Sure. “French Inhale”? OK, yeah. “You Can Put It in a Zag, I’mma Put It in a Blunt”? Truly A-level work.

High-grade marijuana jokes aside, “Mac & Devin” doesn’t appear to have put an undue strain on anybody’s concentration; it’s mostly business as usual for two of hip-hop’s most amiable, low-key personalities. “Young, Wild & Free” sports a sunny pop-soul hook sung by Bruno Mars (who produced the track with his Smeezingtons team), while “Let’s Go Study” puns easily on the adolescent phrase for dating exclusively. Snoop and Wiz make a sweet couple, but this lightweight trifle is unlikely to cement a committed relationship. Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
“Mac & Devin Go to High School”
(Atlantic)
Two stars (Out of four)

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