S. Samuel
Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa is the latest celebrity to react to fellow hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg adding "Lion" to his rap alias and said it will eventually grow on people.
In Khalifa’s perspective, Snoop has a knack for making headline-generating moves.
“I do know that [he changed his name]. Well, I think like everybody is just gonna come to grips with it man,” Wiz said in an interview with Chelsea Handler. “Snoop just takes everybody on a journey with him and he’s just got the gift of inspiring so many minds to just want to dig into whatever he’s into at that time you know what I mean? So it might be new for people, but they’ll get used to it. He’s The Lion.” (“Chelsea Lately”)
G-Unit’s 50 Cent has also weighed in on Snoop’s unexpected name change.
“It’s interesting,” 50 told THR in an interview for his upcoming film Freelancers. “Of course, there will be some people who connect to it and there will be some people that run from it – I don’t know how his little league team’s parents will feel about his new persona. But again, it’s a persona – these are the choices he’s created for himself creatively. And, you know, I think it will work.” 50 observes that not just Snoop but hip-hop itself has a long history of celebrating weed culture. “Snoop’s always been that,” he says. “In the very beginning, that was his consistent theme – he had the weed, and everything else was there. [But] for hip-hop culture, it will work, because there’s enough of that going on; Wiz Khalifa, his entire theme is that. I’ve consistently seen artists sell 500,000 copies with that as a theme: Redman, Method Man, Styles P.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
A few weeks ago, Snoop admitted his name change initially confused longtime friend/producer Dr. Dre.
“He would see me come to rehearsals with all of my Rastafari, my gear, my hair, my look. He was just peeping me out, and I let him know I was doing a reggae project and working on the album and whatnot, but he didn’t really understand it until ‘La La La’ came out,” Snoop told MTV News. “La La La,” the first single from Reincarnated, which Snoop released July 20, marked a new chapter in his musical career, though he has always infused reggae lingo in tracks like the 1992 Dr. Dre track “The Day the N—az Took Over” and his 1993 album cut “Pump Pump.” (MTV)
Reports of his name change heated up the Internet in late July.
Is Snoop Dogg changing his name? It seems the rapper is changing things up, transforming into Snoop Lion (though his legal name remains Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.). The West Coast artist held a news conference in New York on Monday, where he talked about his February trip to Jamaica as the inspiration for his change of moniker. The Lion worked on his new album, “Reincarnated,” while visiting the island. What do you think of Snoop Lion’s new name? (Boston)
Check out Wiz Khalifa’s interview below:
