From Dogg to Lion: Analyzing the Gimmick

[Elano The One And Only]

The goal was to avoid commercialization and what we got was a movie, a video game, and an album produced by electronic dance music extraordinaire Diplo (aka Major Lazer)- well done!

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks? I’ll show you an old Dogg who can learn to sing reggae, re-brand himself for a new generation, and do it all under a spiritual guise.

Sometime in 2012, the “spirit” called on Calvin Broadus Jr. aka Snoop Dogg (to hereby be referred to as Broadus, as recognition of his personal decisions, not his stage name/character) to “find something that was connected to the Bob Marley spirit – because I’ve always said I’m Bob Marley re-incarnated, and it drew me to Jamaica.”

He then made plans to travel to Jamaica and invited folks from Vice, the international art and counter-culture magazine/media giant to join and document his musical metamorphosis. There, Broadus partook in Rastafarian rites-of-passage which assumedly involved copious amounts of the kind-bud, and was then christened Snoop Lion by a local Rastafarian priest. Reincarnated, the doc which chronicled this bizarre undertaking, made its debut on March 21st at SXSW. To Broadus, the album Reincarnated, which shares the same name as the movie but drops April 23rd, is an emergence of a new persona.

“It’s not that I want to be Snoop Dogg on a reggae record. I want to bury Snoop Dogg and become Snoop Lion,” said Broadus at a press conference. He went on to claim the new album is a reflection of early reggae music, the aim being “that dirtiness, that grittiness, not really being so commercialized.”

The few singles released from Reincarnated certainly reflect the Jah sound, with poppy snare drums forming super-chill beats, brass samples aplenty, wah-organ riffs, the percussive guitar up-pluck keeping pace, and Broadus’ smooth singing that has taken a new rasta-tinge. Whether this earns the title of Reggae music is questionable. Broadus seems to have assumed he would be called-out for exploiting Rastafarianism and the single “Here Comes the King” is blatant ass-covering.

In that song, Broadus sings, “I heard a voice, he said that I would understand – one king, one faith, one religion,” an obvious nod to the Christian faith from which Rastafarianism is derived. If anyone was going to pull the rug from under Snoops feet, it would be real Rastafarians, and in the very song that Snoop claims he is king, he also then bows to the one thing they hold dearest – the Almighty King.

Now that he’s kissed the ring, he’s free to roam his land in his tour bus, hitting every festival that will book him – and who wouldn’t? A music festival isn’t complete without a few throwback artists that people can gawk at and get high on nostalgia, and truly, the festival scene is ripe for the taking.

The Snoop Lion sound, image, and idea caters to everything a festival is about. The music has to be accessible to thousands of different ears, the musicians have to be entertaining (nothing new to Snoop), and it helps if the lyrics fit in to the pot-smoking, peace-driven vibe of the festival. Cue Snoop Lion track “Lighters Up,” where he sings “Put your lighters up, get high with me… ain’t no dividing us, east side, west side, south side, north side, unify,” and fits into the bill like it was meant to be. Maybe that was “the spirits” idea?

As fate would have it, the spirit has a video game in store as well: The Way of the Dogg. Yes, it is named after Snoop Dogg, but the beat-incorporating fighting game chronicles the Dogg’s transformation to Snoop Lion, the main character of the game. Set to be released on X-Box Live Arcade and Playstation Network, the game mixes Kung-Fu style battles fueled and controlled by Snoop’s music.

Of course, the game, the movie, the album and the whole transformation wasn’t an accident; it was a purposeful re-branding. Broadus seems genuine when he tears up speaking about his intense religious experience in Jamaica, but it’s hard to ignore how deliberately this was all done. Despite what anyone thinks about this Snoop Lion business, Broadus is a branding mastermind and has always been. That old Dogg has learned some new tricks, but his old tricks are still hard at work.

http://popstache.com/features/pop-vicious/from-dogg-to-lion-analyzing-tha-gimmick/

[Hack Wilson - real]

great read Elano

[doggfather]

great read Elano

[Will_B]

great read Elano

[⠀]

Snoop sold his soul a long ass time ago, now his master wants him to shucke and jive to a new "one world" tune.

[Elano The One And Only]

[FUCK-YOU-BItch]

it´s started when snoop recorded murder was the case song on doggystyle...then doggfather,his pimp style (He paid Don Juan Magic) and pop shit...now this fuckery...

[YSH]

The goal was to avoid commercialization and what we got was a movie, a video game, and an album produced by electronic dance music extraordinaire Diplo (aka Major Lazer)- well done!

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks? I’ll show you an old Dogg who can learn to sing reggae, re-brand himself for a new generation, and do it all under a spiritual guise.

Sometime in 2012, the “spirit” called on Calvin Broadus Jr. aka Snoop Dogg (to hereby be referred to as Broadus, as recognition of his personal decisions, not his stage name/character) to “find something that was connected to the Bob Marley spirit – because I’ve always said I’m Bob Marley re-incarnated, and it drew me to Jamaica.”

He then made plans to travel to Jamaica and invited folks from Vice, the international art and counter-culture magazine/media giant to join and document his musical metamorphosis. There, Broadus partook in Rastafarian rites-of-passage which assumedly involved copious amounts of the kind-bud, and was then christened Snoop Lion by a local Rastafarian priest. Reincarnated, the doc which chronicled this bizarre undertaking, made its debut on March 21st at SXSW. To Broadus, the album Reincarnated, which shares the same name as the movie but drops April 23rd, is an emergence of a new persona.

“It’s not that I want to be Snoop Dogg on a reggae record. I want to bury Snoop Dogg and become Snoop Lion,” said Broadus at a press conference. He went on to claim the new album is a reflection of early reggae music, the aim being “that dirtiness, that grittiness, not really being so commercialized.”

The few singles released from Reincarnated certainly reflect the Jah sound, with poppy snare drums forming super-chill beats, brass samples aplenty, wah-organ riffs, the percussive guitar up-pluck keeping pace, and Broadus’ smooth singing that has taken a new rasta-tinge. Whether this earns the title of Reggae music is questionable. Broadus seems to have assumed he would be called-out for exploiting Rastafarianism and the single “Here Comes the King” is blatant ass-covering.

In that song, Broadus sings, “I heard a voice, he said that I would understand – one king, one faith, one religion,” an obvious nod to the Christian faith from which Rastafarianism is derived. If anyone was going to pull the rug from under Snoops feet, it would be real Rastafarians, and in the very song that Snoop claims he is king, he also then bows to the one thing they hold dearest – the Almighty King.

Now that he’s kissed the ring, he’s free to roam his land in his tour bus, hitting every festival that will book him – and who wouldn’t? A music festival isn’t complete without a few throwback artists that people can gawk at and get high on nostalgia, and truly, the festival scene is ripe for the taking.

The Snoop Lion sound, image, and idea caters to everything a festival is about. The music has to be accessible to thousands of different ears, the musicians have to be entertaining (nothing new to Snoop), and it helps if the lyrics fit in to the pot-smoking, peace-driven vibe of the festival. Cue Snoop Lion track “Lighters Up,” where he sings “Put your lighters up, get high with me… ain’t no dividing us, east side, west side, south side, north side, unify,” and fits into the bill like it was meant to be. Maybe that was “the spirits” idea?

As fate would have it, the spirit has a video game in store as well: The Way of the Dogg. Yes, it is named after Snoop Dogg, but the beat-incorporating fighting game chronicles the Dogg’s transformation to Snoop Lion, the main character of the game. Set to be released on X-Box Live Arcade and Playstation Network, the game mixes Kung-Fu style battles fueled and controlled by Snoop’s music.

Of course, the game, the movie, the album and the whole transformation wasn’t an accident; it was a purposeful re-branding. Broadus seems genuine when he tears up speaking about his intense religious experience in Jamaica, but it’s hard to ignore how deliberately this was all done. Despite what anyone thinks about this Snoop Lion business, Broadus is a branding mastermind and has always been. That old Dogg has learned some new tricks, but his old tricks are still hard at work.

http://popstache.com/features/pop-vicious/from-dogg-to-lion-analyzing-tha-gimmick/

the album is good and about peace and love
why hate?

[Ghost Drebin]

the album is good and about peace and love
why hate?

This.

He makes an album about shooting bitches and fucking hos in the ass and it's great.  Tries some positive shit and gets clowned.

[Blood$]

I just couldn't fuck with that dub-step-ish vibe they had mixed in with the reggae on certain songs

overall there was 8 joints I fucked with, Snoop could have put out a short EP and I might have copped it

[midwestryder]

Snoop sold his soul a long ass time ago, now his master wants him to shucke and jive to a new "one world" tune.

snoop never sold his soul ,ignorant. Snoop went back to his roots. something you no clue about .  snoop has no master.

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

the album is good and about peace and love
why hate?

This.

He makes an album about shooting bitches and fucking hos in the ass and it's great.  Tries some positive shit and gets clowned.

You hang out on a west coast rap forum that is based around the Death Row era. The violent content in music should be the least of your worries.

Rebecca Black made a positive song about having fun on Friday. Should we be worshipping her for being nonviolent?

[Hack Wilson - real]

Snoop sold his soul a long ass time ago, now his master wants him to shucke and jive to a new "one world" tune.

snoop never sold his soul ,ignorant. Snoop went back to his roots. something you no clue about .  snoop has no master.

Nelly sold his soul to get on TRL on MTV

[YSH]

the album is good and about peace and love
why hate?

This.

He makes an album about shooting bitches and fucking hos in the ass and it's great.  Tries some positive shit and gets clowned.

You hang out on a west coast rap forum that is based around the Death Row era. The violent content in music should be the least of your worries.

Rebecca Black made a positive song about having fun on Friday. Should we be worshipping her for being nonviolent?

the fuck you tryna say
its still snoop album and this is the first snoop album that i can get my 5yr old daughter to jam to
it has positive vibe thruout the whole album and its good too

dont compare this to DOGGYSTYLE get out of that era and support the dogg

[un0mic]

When he was on power 106 he told big boy that he also did this cuz she wanted to talk about positive things, and as a rapper he couldn't that.

And he said he told ziggy marley that he feels like bob reincarnated and ziggy sad YES YOU ARE!

I dunno. I haven't heard a joint that banged like the Dogg from the Lion.