How dogg became a lion

Has ever a man been so consistently entertaining? Since Dr Dre turned him from crime mostly towards music 20 years ago, Snoop has turned every aspect of his life into a multi-platform comedy routine, embracing music, acting, reality TV. His private life and his peccadilloes are grist to the mill as is — so the timing of this latest announcement suggests — his midlife crisis.

One can hardly blame Snoop for taking stock. Irie, Mr Lion, we salute you. ES Money. The Escapist. You are the light; you are the lion. Why reggae? Snoop says he hadn't planned on this musical rebirth in Jamaica, but "the spirit called me.

And, you know, anytime the spirit calls you, you gotta know that its serious. I just didn't have my third eye open, but it's wide open right now. I want to bury Snoop Dogg and become Snoop Lion. How different is the new album from his past work? It's a pretty big departure. Snoop says that reggae references are "something I always had in my music," but that he wanted this album to be "true reggae music," like something you might find on "a record out of a s collection.

One song, "No Guns Allowed," even pleads for a handgun ban. Gun control is "not something particularly gangsta," says James Plafke at Geekosystem , but that's the point. As a rapper, Snoop Lion notes, "I could have never made a song called 'No Guns Allowed' because I'm supposed to be a gangster and we supposed to keep one on us at all times.

Just to live my life a different way. So I was given a little bit more clarity on what to do and how to do it.

Down there, they told me that I was a light, and it was time to let that light shine. In the film, you visit Tuff Gong studios, then jump into a tiny Tivoli Gardens studio with local musicians. Was the visit that spontaneous? Everything that you see happened right on the spot. A lot of it was not scripted.