Snoop Lion
Reincarnated

LA RECENSIONE

Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., known as Snoop Dogg, is an undeniable living icon of his genre. Beyond any personal taste, the influence that this lanky guy exerts is indisputable: besides an endless array of albums and collaborations/productions with other celebrities in the hip hop scene and beyond, he has also hosted various television programs and made improbable appearances on others (WWE and Who Wants to Be a Billionaire? where, just to cover all bases, he won a whopping fifty thousand dollars).

In short, this man has done just about everything, from getting caught for cocaine and being tried for gang-related murder to collaborating with the worst of today's commercial scene (Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and lastly Mickey Mouse's star cracked-out Miley Cyrus).

But what happens when you've given so much and simultaneously claim to smoke eighty blunts a day? I, and I say this as someone who never turns down a puff when offered, would go out of my mind.

And so it was for Uncle Snoop. Or rather, it might seem so to the most naive. The Big Boss Dogg hangs up his rap career and turns to reggae, after admitting that he visited Jamaica in 2012. There, he supposedly met a pusher dabbling in shamanism who told him, "You not be dog, you be Lion," and thus the black rapper reincarnated as a Rastafarian lion. He still had the blunt in hand though.

This was followed by his conversion to Rastafarianism (which for Snoop means massively increasing cannabis use... yes, even more than before), the confession to quit rap for a while, and the declaration of peace & love to the world through a completely reggae album.

Now, I have never listened to Snoop Dogg and never gave a damn about him. When I saw that his trip documentary was released along with the album (complete with Jamaicans acclaiming him as a deity and carrying him around on a deck chair on their shoulders), I just thought: bomboklat! how much more money does he want to make?

And how much more weed does he want to smoke? Will there be any left for us?

I listened to the album a bit and in my opinion, it's quite bland, nothing to compare (obviously) with worthy artists like Major Lazer (ironically, the Reincarnated album is produced by them), Alborosie, or other genre personalities. The impression is that Snoop Dogg is riding the wave as always; sure, not everyone took his change of flag well. Now he lives in Jamaica, overindulges in ganja (apparently more than before), and is making money with the latest album and of course other noteworthy ventures (a small cameo for example in the upcoming Scary Movie 5).

Come on, now it's your turn: how much does he annoy you from 1 to 10?