Plenty of speculation surrounds the latest release by Hip-Hop mainstay, Calvin Broudas, aka Snoop Lion. No, that's not a typo. Snoop received the new name while on a pilgrimage to Jamaica, the home of Bob Marley, to learn firsthand about Rastafarian culture, which he said has intrigued him for much of his life. Some say it's an earnest attempt to better himself and become part of the healing process of the world, while others believe it's a ploy to sell albums. In either case, Snoop's first Reggae album wasn't a task he took lightly. He completely immersed himself in the atmosphere that birthed the Rastafarian influenced Reggae lifestyle for three weeks.
The documentary chronicling the birth of the new album and persona, aptly titled "Reincarnation," which is available for streaming on Netflix, attempts to help others understand his transition by showing Snoop's human side. There's footage from Nate Dogg's funeral, which shows Snoop delivering a word of solace while leading his people through a painful time, scenes with his daughter, Cori B, as they recorded their first collaboration, "No Guns Allowed," which also features Drake, visits to Trenchtown, aka Jamrock, and other disenfranchised parts of Jamaica that the vacation brochures will never show.
I know some of you may have heard about the unfortunate incident with Bunny Wailers, of the original "Bob Marley and the Wailers." I won't be speaking on that here as it is not my place. I'm going to keep with the mindset that Snoop Lion had when he decided to keep Mr. Wailers on the documentary and only speak of our revolutionary brother in a positive light. Besides, I wasn't there to witness what went down.
That being said, we have to start believing in the positive and stop giving all of our devotion to the negative. Being a listener of Snoop's music since the "Deep Cover" soundtrack, I truly believe it's an earnest attempt to better himself in the eyes of history and more importantly, his children. You can only be a murdering pimp for so long when your baby girl is nearing young woman age. And we all know that daughters usually pattern their mates after their fathers. Maybe it's as simple as that.
OPEN YOUR MIND...
JAH RASTAFARI!!! ONE LOVE!!!
Snoop Lion's "Reincarnated" album and "Reincarnation" documentary are available everywhere.
