This week, we've been convinced that Snoop Dogg has finally, once and for all, smoked too much weed. The iconic, Long Beach-born rapper is currently working on a reggae album titled Reincarnated with EDM wiz Diplo as the executive producer. Under his new found moniker Snoop Lion, a music video from the album's first single title “La La La” surfaced recently adding another bullet to his list of dubious aural experiments (including dubstep and country).
At first glance, the video looks like a bootlegger's YouTube joke. We're treated to the sight of a green EP spinning on a record player, emitting the stoned eighth notes of laid back roots reggae which–at least initially–sounds like something out of Peter Tosh's catalog. Thank Diplo for his producing magic on this one. As far as Snoop Lion, not so much. Throughout his career, the rapper's purring, OG swagger remains his greatest hip-hop asset. But mix in a fake Jamaican accent and a style that doesn't really compliment his delivery, and it's hard to take it seriously–unless of course you're enjoying a potent prescription from your clinic of choice. Instead, it maybe would've been nice to hear the Doggfather take a stab at toasting (monotone rhythmic lyrics talked or chanted) to rival the likes of Damian Marley.
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Much like his recent film Mac and Devin Go to High School— where he plays a15-year senior opposite Wiz Khalifa— this venture seems destined for the CVS bargain bin. Forgive our frustration, it's just hard to watch one of gangsta raps most notorious voices take so many head-scratching left turns with his rhymes. Some may remember when he teamed up with Willie Nelson for the G-law country track “My Medicine” or the even less memorable dubstep mixtape Throw Your Dubs Up featuring a sample from Flux Pavillion's “Can't Stop” made popular by Jay-Z and Kanye West in “Who Gon Stop Me.”
Whether you feel this new chapter in Snoop's saga is legit, we're still secretly hoping he rolls out a sample of his new, irie sound when he comes to L.A. Historic Park for Univision and MiO's H20 Music Festival on Aug. 25.
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