S. Samuel
West Coast rap veteran Snoop Dogg is proving even at the age of 40 his career is far from over by publicly announcing the new hip-hop alias, "Snoop Lion."
According to Snoop, a winter trip to Jamaica fueled his unexpected name change.
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)
He also claimed the spirit of late music icon Bob Marley has entered his soul.
The former gangster rapper is releasing a reggae album called “Reincarnated” in the fall. He said that in Jamaica, he connected with Bob Marley’s spirit and is now “Bob Marley reincarnated.” Bob Marley’s son Rohan attended the conference and gave Snoop his blessing. “I feel like I’ve always been Rastafarian,” Snoop said of the spiritual Jamaican movement. While there, he said, he visited a temple, was renamed Snoop Lion and was also given the Ethiopian name Berhane, meaning “light of the world.”Snoop didn’t explain why he was switching from “Dogg” to “Lion,” but it’s likely a reference to the Lion of Judah, a religious symbol popular in Rastafarian and Ethiopian culture. (Fox News)
Back in 2010, rap veteran Nas hooked up with reggae singer Damian Marley for their Distant Relatives album.
“Reggae and hip-hop are cousins,” he said in an interview. “Go back before the ’90s and think about the music that was playing on the ghetto blasters and you’ll hear it…The whole world is like family, split up all over the place. It’s overdue, and I want to help build whatever we can [in Africa]. I’ve worked with a lot of reggae artists, like Sizzla and Supercat, but not until [2005’s] Jamrock did I get a chance to work with Damian. I love his music and I’m a big fan of Bob Marley and the whole family. We haven’t worked out any tour dates yet. But I’m sure Damian and I will do something soon.” (Miami Herald)
Over the weekend, Snoop made headlines for getting banned 24 months from entering Norway.
A lawyer representing Snoop Dogg says the American rapper has been banned from entering Norway for two years after trying to enter the country with a small amount of marijuana last month. Holger Hagesaeter, the rapper’s legal representative in Norway, told The Associated Press on Saturday that his client “can live with the decision” and has no immediate plans to appeal it. (Huffington Post)
