A year of celebrating Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary wouldn’t be complete without including arguably the culture’s most famous and recognizable figure, Snoop Dogg. Also celebrating the 30th anniversary of his solo debut album, Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg has transcended art forms and genres over his lengthy career, continuously reinventing himself as he’s dipped his toe in Reggae, Funk and Gospel while keeping his roots firmly planted in Hip-Hop. His career has also seen him navigate through the evolution and growth of Hip-Hop music itself over the years, coming up in the West-Coast G-Funk era of the early ’90s to knocking out club and gangsta rap hits throughout the 2000s, and continuing to embrace the youth culture throughout the ’10s and ’20s. He’s the type of artist who brings fans from all generations and walks of life together, and while some may be quick to label him as a ’90s rapper, he’s consistently increased his output of new music in each subsequent decade, his most recent album being 2022’s Back On Death Row (celebrating his purchase of the original record label that first signed him).

Snoop has also been known for his wide range of collaborations over the years, and his work with Wiz Khalifa is one example of how he bridges the gap between generations of Hip-Hop artists and fans, with most of Wiz’s music coming from the 2010s and later. While the two artists are mostly known for their solo work, they did collaborate by starring in the film and creating the soundtrack to Mac and Devin Go To High School, showcasing their shared enthusiasm for cannabis culture. Reuniting once again, they’ve now embarked on The High School Reunion Tour, celebrating the impact they’ve had on Hip-Hop with 30+ years of weed and party anthems nearly every living generation has gotten down to. This would be the duo’s first time performing together in Toronto since they co-headlined Drake’s 2016 OVO Festival right here at this same venue, almost exactly seven years ago to the date.

Joining Snoop & Wiz on this tour would be a few special guests who would warm up the stage for them. It started off as a sunny evening despite thunderstorm warnings, with DJ Drama spinning some tracks as the crowd slowly filled the venue, and Taylor Gang Entertainment’s Berner came out to set things off as the first opener. There were a lot of food and drink vendors set up along the pathway to Budweiser Stage, and I was busy getting drinks, trying some free tequila samples and finding my seats while Berner was on stage, but could tell he had a solid set with songs like “Pass Me The Green.”

Next to perform would be an OG who’s been with Snoop since day one, Warren G. While the fellow 213 member was with Snoop as his hypeman last time Snoop was in town back in 2019, this time he would get his own time slot to perform a solo set, and for the most part would dive into his classic debut album, 1994’s Regulate… G Funk Era. Warren G would move the crowd with classics off of that album like “This DJ,” “Do You See,” and “What’s Next.” He’d even take it to 1999 with “I Want It All,” getting the crowd to wave their arms.

Being sure to share the love, Warren G would bring out a surprise appearance by The Twinz, who’d perform their Regulate… G Funk Era collab “Recognize” before doing one of their own songs. They’d then encourage the crowd to light up their joints as they took a smoke break to Rick James’ “Mary Jane,” followed by a tribute to the late Nate Dogg, playing several of his hits including his feature on Dr. Dre’s “Xxplosive” and 50 Cent’s “21 Questions.” With Nate Dogg on the mind, Warren G would close out his set with their classic collaboration together, “Regulate,” getting the crowd to sing along to Nate’s part of the song.

DJ Drama would return to keep the good vibes rolling between artists, and next would bring up another OG who Toronto fans have been starved to see, the Oakland legend Too $hort. Regarded as a peer to Snoop Dogg and a fellow member of their new group Mount Westmore, Too $hort is another Hip-Hop icon who has transcended the culture’s evolution over the decades, from going independently “street platinum” by selling cassette tapes out of his car in the ’80s to releasing classic albums with Jive Records throughout the ’90s and 2000s, all while keeping his lane within Hip-Hop relevant even today.

Too $hort would get the ladies in the crowd to dance as he performed several of his ’90s and 2000s hits, including the Lil’ Jon-produced “Blow The Whistle,” and got everyone singing along to Chris Brown’s chorus as he performed “Loyal (West Coast Version).” He’d also take a dip into the ’80s, bringing the fans back to 1988 with “Freaky Tales” before returning to the ’00s with a song for “the boss bitches in the crowd,” Kelis’ “Bossy.” Too $hort would be sure to take a moment to explain for the uninitiated that he uses the word “bitch” as a term of endearment, and throughout his set would get the rowdy fans to shout out “beeeeitch!!!” whenever he asked “what’s my favourite word?!” He’d also close out his set by humbly thanking the Toronto crowd, mentioning how this was his very first time performing in the city despite knowing plenty of Toronto women over the years.

Having been partying to music from the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s with the last few openers, it was now time to move forward to the 2010s and ’20s. By now the rain was pouring and fans in the lawn section and 400-level seating were getting soaked as we waited for the stage to get prepped for the next performer. Pretty soon there would be a video interlude on the jumbo screen, and a bit of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” would play before the words “Black and Yellow” appeared on the screen with the beat dropping to that song at the same time. Smoke machines shot out at the front of the stage and Wiz Khalifa came out performing that 2011 throwback, cranking the energy right up!

Much of Wiz Khalifa’s set would lean into that 2011 album, Rolling Papers, including songs like “Roll Up” and “No Sleep,” and he’d bring out a crew to toss giant balloons shaped like weed joints into the crowd as he performed “Taylor Gang.” I was admittedly unfamiliar with a lot of the music Wiz Khalifa released after 2011, but his set did include a range of club records and pop-rap he’s done over the years, including newer 2022 and 2023 songs like “Bad Ass Bitches,” “Iced Out Necklace,” “Peace & Love,” and “Swole Life.” He’d even do his Maroon 5 collaboration, “Payphone,” getting the ladies to sing along, and pulled out a smoke gun to blow weed smoke into the crowd at one point.

With multiple generations of Hip-Hop fans being represented at this concert, there were plenty of parents with their teenage or adult kids in the crowd, and it looked like some of the parents used Wiz Khalifa’s set as an opportunity to rest their legs. That is until near the end of his set, where Wiz Khalifa brought Too $hort back out to perform their Rolling Papers collab, “On My Level,” with the last bar of Too $hort’s verse getting a ton of cheers since today was actually a Wednesday: “…and it’s a Wednesday night, this ain’t the weekend!”

After Wiz left the stage there would be another video interlude, with a huge cloud of smoke appearing on the screens and the theme from Scarface playing as the lower screens opened up to reveal a Cadillac driving onto the stage. Snoop Dogg would step out of the caddy puffing a joint with pole dancers appearing on the far ends of the stage, and the crowd erupted as the beat from “The Next Episode” dropped, Snoop performing his verse and displaying masterful showmanship as he gave a pause before the late Nate Dogg’s verse played. After honouring Nate Dogg, Snoop would immediately get into an Eazy-E tribute, playing N.W.A.’s “Dopeman” before getting into his own music.

Starting from the beginning of his career, Snoop would perform his verse from Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” before jumping forward to “Bitch Please,” getting the crowd to groove to the beat. Snoop and his DJ would next pull off some masterful transitions and mash-ups, playing Slick Rick’s vocals from “Children’s Story” over the beat from Snoop’s “Tha Shiznit” and Snoop using Slick Rick’s verse as a way to introduce his own verse. Snoop would then use the lyric “it’s 1-8-7 on a motherfuckin’ cop” to smoothly transition into his day-one hit with Dr. Dre, “Deep Cover,” getting the fans to throw up their middle fingers.

Sticking to the throwbacks for now, Snoop had a surprise in store for the crowd as he got into his Doggystyle album. Starting from the top of the album, Snoop would bring out Lady of Rage to perform the “G Funk Intro,” and the crowd turned up as she nailed her verse! After the rare appearance by Lady of Rage, Snoop would next bring back Warren G to perform another deep album cut with him, “Ain’t No Fun,” getting the crowd to sing along to Nate Dogg’s verse. Snoop would then take a moment to celebrate weed being legal in Canada, pulling out another joint from the Cadillac to smoke before performing “Lodi Dodi” over an alternate, more energetic G-Funk beat. Closing out this Doggystyle segment would be a teaser of KRS-One’s “Sound Of Da Police” before Snoop got into a dramatic performance of “Murder Was The Case,” nailing every verse word for word.

With most of his set so far sticking to the early ’90s, it was time for Snoop to pull out some songs from the 2000s and 2010s. He’d bring the pole dancers back on stage and got all the ladies in the crowd singing along to Akon’s chorus as he performed “I Wanna Fuck You,” pulling out a money gun that shot dollar bills at the dancers. He’d then dedicate the next song to Brazil, shouting out how him and Pharrel traveled out there to shoot the music video to “Beautiful,” getting the ladies to dance as he performed the song with the Brazilian flag appearing on the jumbo screens. The dance segment continued as Snoop pulled out more jams, performing his feature on Lil Duval’s “Smile (Living My Best Life)” and doing a rare performance of his autotune-filled, T-Pain mimicking “Sexual Eruption.”

Snoop had more rarities and surprises in store for the crowd, bringing Lady of Rage back to perform her 1994 single “Afro Puffs,” with Snoop enthusiastically backing her up with the adlibs. The day-one fans definitely appreciated seeing Lady of Rage get more stage time and crush her performance. Snoop would then flip between eras over his next few songs, going from the 2000s with his remix of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.,” and brought it back to ’96 with “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head.” Celebrating recently earning his first diamond certification for a single surpassing 10 million in sales, Snoop of course had to perform his verse from the Pop hit “California Gurls,” the younger girls in the crowd singing along to Katy Perry’s chorus. He’d stay in that diamond-level territory, next doing a tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. with a cover of “Hypnotize,” followed by a 2Pac tribute with their collaboration on “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted,” the crowd giving it up for the two fallen legends.

Snoop would appear to close out his set with a hype performance of “Gin and Juice,” the beat flipping to a more upbeat Funk groove for the second verse, and he’d get back into the Cadillac and reverse backstage. The show of course wasn’t over yet though, as another video interlude played with Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa in an action scene fighting off some bullies in a high school. They would do a bit of a callback to Snoop & Dr. Dre’s Up In Smoke Tour more than 20 years ago with the way they asked the crowd how they should finish off the bullies in the video. After the video interlude, the lower screens opened up again for the Cadillac to come out, this time with both Snoop & Wiz in the car.

When they returned to the stage, Wiz Khalifa would get into an energetic performance of “We Dem Boyz,” jumping on the hood of the car and getting the crowd to join in on the chorus. Snoop would next exit the caddy, playing a few snippets of other artists’ songs as he appeared to tune the radio before landing on his own 1993 classic “Who Am I (What’s My Name?).” After each performing arguably their biggest anthems, Snoop & Wiz would next perform a few of their collaborations together, including “You and Your Friends” and “Don’t Text Don’t Call,” bringing the pole dancers back out to get down with them. The crowd was hyped, and they’d start jumping to the beat as Snoop & Wiz performed a cover of House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” with Snoop covering Everlast’s verse and Wiz playing hypeman, jumping from atop the higher platform on stage.

With more hits to go, another video interlude would play, this time with Pharrell doing a call-and-response with the crowd, and this would transition into his hit collab with Snoop Dogg, “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” While this song got the crowd dancing, the next would mellow things out as they got into the emotional Furious 7 track by Wiz Khalifa, “See You Again.” While the song was originally a tribute to the late actor Paul Walker, the jumbo screen would show images of several artists we’ve lost in recent years, ranging from OGs like Nate Dogg, MF DOOM and DMX to younger artists we’ve lost early in their careers, including Takeoff, Pop Smoke and XXXTentacion. The crowd would cheer as they remembered the names and faces playing on the screens while Wiz Khalifa performed the song. Making sure to end on a high note, Snoop and Wiz would then perform the more upbeat single from Mac and Devin Go To High School, “Young, Wild & Free,” closing out the show to happy cheers as they got back into the Cadillac and reversed the car backstage.

The rain stopped just in time to make for a clear exit for the fans.

Overall, this was a fun show that had a little something for every type of Hip-Hop fan. It’s great seeing Hip-Hop grow into a family atmosphere, as you could see parents schooling their kids on ’80s and ’90s Hip-Hop, while the kids were schooling the parents on the ’10s and ’20s. Artists like Snoop Dogg and Too $hort uniquely bring all these generations together, as they’ve had hits across several decades and you could see firsthand how their collaborations range from OGs like Warren G and Lady of Rage to newer artists like Wiz Khalifa. While it would’ve been cool to see Snoop and Too $hort perform some of their more recent Mount Westmore songs together, their setlists still had incredible range that touched on every era in Hip-Hop that fairly represented most of the culture’s 50-year history. This concert worked as both a celebration of the youth culture that Hip-Hop originated in, paying it forward to the new generation, while also honouring the OGs, both the ones who are still with us and the ones who have passed.

The High School Reunion Tour continues all summer throughout the United States, tour dates and tickets can be found here.

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