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Snoop’s Journey to Jamaica Unleashes a Lion
 
Last summer, the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg held a press conference at a Caribbean restaurant in New York City. The lanky superstar, who would turn 41 a few months later, reintroduced himself as Snoop Lion and declared, “I have always said I was Bob Marley reincarnated.”

Had another artist made this declarat

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Snoop’s Journey to Jamaica Unleashes a Lion

Last summer, the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg held a press conference at a Caribbean restaurant in New York City. The lanky superstar, who would turn 41 a few months later, reintroduced himself as Snoop Lion and declared, “I have always said I was Bob Marley reincarnated.”

Had another artist made this declaration, the Marley family might’ve been up in arms, but that isn’t the case with the reggae icon’s sons. Rohan Marley appeared at the press conference in support, and Damian appears in the Reincarnated documentary about Snoop’s transformation. Even the eldest son, Ziggy, recently said the Dogg-to-Lion change “could be good” on the Grammy red carpet.

“I feel I have always been a Rastafari,” Snoop continued. “I just didn’t have my third eye open, but it’s wide open right now.”

The documentary hit theaters last month in limited release, and the Reincarnated album debuts April 23, arguably three days later than it should. The reggae project is a creative left turn for the multiplatinum-selling artist, and it begs several questions that Snoop answered for CULTURE early last month over the course of an exclusive album-listening party, a documentary screening and interview sessions.

 

“Ready to Come Home”

Snoop Lion arrives fashionably late to a West Hollywood recording studio not far from the medical marijuana dispensary he recently made famous (more on that later). In person, the man born Calvin Broadus embodies everything his fans would expect. He has a friendly energy and chill vibe and smokes cannabis faster than Bukowski downed whiskey. As wisps of smoke fill the studio like a fog machine gone awry, Snoop takes CULTURE back to the journey’s genesis and his reason for rolling cameras.

“[It’s] because my fans have always been right on my side and always been there with me through the good, the bad and the ugly,” explains Snoop, who reportedly shelled out $200,000 to document the experiences in Reincarnated. “What I wanted to do was, I found a great spot in my life where I was at and I wanted to take them along with me. I wanted them to be a part of this journey with me so they wouldn’t feel left behind when everything begins to change and it feels a little different. So that way whether they do or they don’t, they know the backlight will be on so that whenever they’re ready to come home, they can come on in.”

In 1972, Marley traveled to London and sought help from Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. Forty years later Snoop traveled to Jamaica to record the Reincarnated album in a studio owned by Blackwell, who also dropped by the recordings. Diplo’s Major Lazer team produced the album, and Snoop says the former Philadelphia schoolteacher nailed the sound.

“Diplo brought funk,” the Lion roars. “He brought beats that was banging. He brought writers, arrangers, soul. He brought a spirit that could match mine. I could throw ideas off of him that would eventually work. He brought a sense of urgency to create something that I was looking for—not to clash but to complement. A lot of times when you bring somebody in on a project and you tell them to do the whole project from top to bottom, then you start to add your influences and what you feel, it becomes a clash. We never had a clashing moment. We always saw eye-to-eye. I feel like that’s why we got the best out of the project.”

 Welcome to the Jungle

The Reincarnated documentary looks at the music-making process, but deeper themes emerge as Snoop explores Rastafarian ideologies, visits the musically significant Trenchtown and joins a holy ceremony at a Nyabinghi temple. He was given the Ethiopian name Berhane, meaning “light,” but that is not the name Snoop ultimately embraced. Bunny Wailer, the 65-year-old core member of the Wailers (with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh), endorsed the “Snoop Lion” name, which made it a lock.

“This is the Snoop Lion. Take it two times and pass it around,” says Snoop. “Love is love.”

Getting more serious, Snoop adds, “I feel like it is a growth, transformation into a full-grown artist/man/entrepreneur. The Dogg has had his run for 20 years. In a dog’s life, I’d probably be 140 years old now . . . I had my run with the Dogg for a long time to where the Lion is definitely necessary right now for what we’re going through. I feel like we’re living in a jungle and the only way to deal with the jungle is bring out the King of the Jungle— which is the Lion—who is willing to address every situation and still keep the party flowing. But at the same time, [we should] address some real issues that we really have before us that we don’t pay attention to. We as rappers that have a lot of power should use our power in the righteous way to create some awareness; to bring some attention to some things that need to be fixed.”

Staying Creative

In a separate interview, Reincarnated film director Andy Capper tells CULTURE, “The most compelling things about the transition were what prompted it. People forget how much Snoop has gone through in his life. There’s been a lot of pain and drama and strife, and I think Reincarnated is him putting out positive vibrations into the world rather than his old gangsta stuff, which is generally perceived as quite negative. The Dogg will always be there, but the Lion is a way of promoting peace, love and unity in a world full of hate. That’s what this film is—Snoop’s life story transposed with making a new album.”

Snoop foresees a return to hip-hop, but today’s tough times call for something else. Every artist is making a party record, he explains, but the world currently looks nothing like a party, so he wanted to pause the party long enough to address the suffering. Likewise, switching musical platforms is an ideal way to highlight his overall change from Long Beach gangbanger to youth football-coaching family man living in the suburbs of Southern California.

“I started to hear myself saying the same things. Repetition. I’ve never done that,” says Snoop. “I’ve always been one to stay creative. I always come with something new and different and original and authentic. It felt like I got to the point where it’s not that I couldn’t, but it wasn’t relevant. I wasn’t that guy anymore to be rapping about standing on the corner selling drugs, having a gun in my pocket, getting into gang activities because I don’t live that life anymore. From a third person it sounds awesome, but at the same time I’m not living like that anymore. And then I got kids. I got a football league. I got lives that I deal with. I look at life. I look at my grandparents and my grandmother and my mother and how proud they are of me from what I’ve done, and they still haven’t been able to see me perform in a manner that I can perform without cussing.”

The Most Powerful Shit

While the documentary traces Snoop’s artistic change, the film has another side that can only be described as cannabis cinema. On several occasions, participants broke out nugs so big they looked like props from a Peter Jackson film, and Snoop even hiked into the mountains to pick fresh cannabis like a Birkenstock-wearing granola cruncher. The locals lined up to share homegrown goodness, while the Lion doled out California green like the West Coast ambassador he’s always been.

“The main issue with cannabis use was trying to function as a human being after smoking Snoop’s weed,” says Capper about his challenges as director. “It’s the most powerful shit out there.”

Still, Capper believes the film shows the spiritual and productive side of medicating.

“We just showed the film in Mexico City, and a lot of the kids in the crowd told me they thought it was a great political statement in regards to the legalization of marijuana,” Capper continues. “The issue is definitely getting more attention.”

Snoop, who claims to have a “platinum” MMJ card, has been an active medical marijuana proponent on the media circuit. In an early 2010 Lopez Tonight appearance, he said, “I feel like [MMJ legalization] is a great situation. I feel like the whole world would be a better place if the whole world would just open up and do that.”

Snoop rejoined George Lopez later that year and remarked, “I really believe it would take California to another level . . . it is the best piece of medicine that they’ve ever created. I used to go to the store and buy Anacin and Bufferin and Bayer, but it is nothing like this medical marijuana, man.”

The rapper also appeared on Chelsea Lately and explained his medicinal needs: “I was having migraine pains and my vision was getting blurry.” In early 2012, he even gave Congressman Ron Paul a quasi-endorsement on Facebook that clearly had more to do with the Republican’s pro-legalization stance than his view that carjacking is a “hip-hop thing.”

Snoop’s Journey Continues

Snoop’s biggest MMJ endorsement, however, came earlier this year when a GQ magazine writer joined him at a local collective in West Hollywood. “Dr. Dina,” the MMJ pioneer who inspired the Nancy Botwin character on Weeds, runs the dispensary and customized the sativa-dominant strain Snoop Lion Executive Branch just for the rapper. Having known each other since the Doggystyle days, Snoop gave her the “Dr. Dina” nickname, and she gave him his first MMJ recommendation letter in 2005 (and again every year since).

While the documentary reinforces Snoop’s status as a leading cannabis advocate, the film lacks a verbalized defense that the Lion reboot isn’t merely a marketing gimmick. Snoop does not act defensive in any way, but dissent has emerged from none other than Bunny Wailer. In a recent demand letter, Wailer called the transformation a fraud, while the Rastafari Millennium Council wrote the stinger, “Smoking weed and loving Bob Marley and reggae music is not what defines the Rastafari Indigenous Culture.”

In Snoop’s defense, Wailer and the Council both say they are so deeply wounded that only American greenbacks can ease their pain. Combined with Wailer’s whole-hearted on-screen embrace, the righteous indignation is suspect at best. Rohan Marley weighed in on the charges last January telling Eagle 106.3 radio, “I am more than pleased with Snoop’s reincarnation . . . We do and will continue to support him on his journey.”

A Better Person, A Better Musician

The movie allows people to make up their own minds, but when it comes to discussing Bunny Wailer, Snoop keeps the Dogg tied up and opts for the Lion’s path.

“I felt his blessing was necessary because he was the last remaining Wailer,” says Snoop. “To me, the Wailers were the group that was most similar to [my early hip-hop group] 213 [which also included Warren G and the deceased Nate Dogg]. In parallel to that, it’s a journey. You feel like these are two different groups, but they feel and walk and talk the same way. They’re just speaking a different language. Once they get on the same communication wavelength, everything is love. That’s what it was about. It was about an overdue meeting or relationship that was overdue. He had been following me like I’d been following him and following the Wailers. It was a matter of us finally meeting and blessing each other with presence and love and kind words as far as where we should go and where [we] want to take this thing to.”

As demonstrated by his positive response, Snoop seems to value his new perspective as much as his new album.

“That’s what it was all about,” the Lion concludes. “That’s what it is to this day—trying to live and learn and trying to become a better person and a better musician. So when I’m making my music, the music that I made I’m proud of in the past. But I want to make music that can get me on stage at the Essence Awards, at the Oscars and possibly in the White House.”

President Obama, the ball’s in your court. The Lion awaits.

snooplion.com

 

Ch-Ch-Changes

Snoop isn’t the only musical artist to re-tool his/her sound or public persona in response to some new cultural, religious or artistic inspiration. While Bob Marley’s Rasta ways made quite an impression on the now-former rapper, the newly-minted Snoop Lion wasn’t the first to re-imagine himself. Check out these two other switch-ups:

 

From Prince to The Artist

Fans of His Purple Majesty likely did a double-take when the Man From Minneapolis ventured into unpronounceable realms. Fonts hated Prince.

 

From Cat Stevens to Yusuf Islam

Islam came calling and the singer-songwriter went back to his roots and, for a while, discontinued his pop career.

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