HE MAY have caused a minor rumpus with his expletive-laden lyrics at Live 8, but the dapper rapper Snoop Dogg was in unruffled mood on the first night of his UK tour on Sunday. Once the king of smooth-talking gangster rap, Snoop has had a bumpy few years of inferior albums, lawsuits and impending divorce. But his latest release Rhythm & Gangsta: The Masterpiece has lived up to its name, performing well critically and commercially. And, to judge by his rapturous welcome in Cardiff, the artist formerly known as Calvin Broadus can do no wrong.

Even the short film which opened the show attracted huge cheers, despite being a tiresomely unoriginal soft-porn fantasy. It starred Snoop as a supercool stud who beds two beautiful women, effortlessly fights off a team of would-be assassins, then guns down his most recent conquest for betraying him. Yawn.

The show itself was a more uplifting affair, with Snoop surrounded by a dozen-strong team of musicians, sidekicks, scantily clad female dancers and mountainous bodyguards. Purring languid rhymes in his signature stoned drawl, his lanky frame jigging and jerking like a Gerry Anderson string puppet, the rapper’s elegant style of sleepy-eyed showmanship made a refreshing change from the brawny machismo of most hip-hop stars.

In two early highlights, the infectious, calypso-flavoured stutter of his 50 Cent duet Pimp was followed by the classic sunny-afternoon reverie, Gin and Juice. As ever with Snoop there were ample nods to vintage 1970s disco and funk, from the soulful bustle of Ups and Downs to the archly titled party anthem, Snoop’s Upside Your Head. The rapper even turned into a honey-voiced crooner for a clutch of R&B serenades, most effectively on Beautiful.

But there was also an annoying lack of polish about Sunday’s show. Too much of the short set was wasted in trading infantile four-letter chants and dog noises with the crowd. Muddy sound quality meant that most of Snoop’s lyrics were barely discernible, but those that could be heard relied on the usual lazy litany of swaggering sexism and casual violence. This lack of subtlety soon began to grate, coming from a rapper whose key strengths are verbal dexterity and suave vocal phrasing.

Fortunately, he snapped back into focus and closed with a clutch of strong recent singles. His terrific collaboration with Pharrell Williams, Drop it Like it’s Hot, had the crowd bouncing. He did not quite blow the roof off but, even on middling form, Snoop still knows how to throw a party.