Snoop Dogg seems to be going through a transformation of sorts, but we don’t know exactly how his fans will react to this.
The hip hop icon says he is tired of hip hop and now has found a better way to express his music, through reggae! And just to make the sudden move official he has changed his name to Snoop Lion.
Snoop Dogg or Lion well however you may refer to him held a news conference on Monday in New York, where he revealed that he was “born again” during a visit to Jamaica. The visit came forth in February and has inspired the hip hop gangster to take his music to a level where “kids and grandparents can listen to.” Shocking, right!
Snoop also mentioned that he would be releasing a reggae album called “Reincarnated” sometime in the fall. He gives much of the credit for his transformation to Bob Marley’s spirit and is now “Bob Marley reincarnated.” And just to show a sign of strength Bob Marley’s son Rohan attended the conference, he also gave Snoop his blessing.
While on vacation in Jamaica Snoop visited a temple, changed his name to Snoop Lion and was also given the Ethiopian name Berhane, meaning “light of the world.” These are very big steps in such a small amount of time.
Most of us are wondering exactly why he decided to switch from “Dogg” to “Lion,” but he did not comment on that. However, it is a known fact that the Lion of Judah, is a religious symbol popular in Rastafarian and Ethiopian culture.
Snoop mentioned that Jamaica stirred new emotion in him after staying there for 35 days. He now feels closer to his wife and adds that he’s excited to perform music that his family and children can listen to.
“As a 40-year-old man … I’ve got to give them something,” he said. “That’s what you do when you’re wise.”
As far as to why he is stepping away from hip hop he said that he simply got “tired” of the genre. Claiming that it is no longer a challenging, I can agree with him in some of that regarding the fact that hip hop has lost its content based music.
“Reggae was calling … it’s a breath of fresh air,” he said. “Rap isn’t challenging; it’s not appealing.”
Snoops new album was produced by Diplo which will be released on Vice Records. A documentary based on Snoop recent transition will also be released and produced by Vice. It features Snoop making music and a few personal moments of his life. A book about Snoop’s rebirth is also in the works.
No matter what name Snoop carries, one thing is still for sure, he knows how to hustle his music and make that paper!
Damn…the homie snoop either on to something or just been smoking too much