If you’ve been following my last few posts, I’ve written extensively about my Catalpa experience. However, before I can move on from that festival (which is certainly a crowning moment in my festival-going experience to this point), I have to tackle one remaining fact.
I may have seen Snoop Dogg’s last performance as Snoop Dogg. Because, as you might have heard the Friday before Catalpa, Snoop Dogg announced that he was turning to reggae and was going to become Snoop Lion.
A number of journalists have already tackled the hows and the whys of this. Many of them were in attendance at Catalpa, and they waited through his whole set to see if he would debut any of his reggae songs. Some were even tricked when, at the very end of the show, a Bob Marley song started blaring over the speakers. They actually thought Snoop Lion might make an appearance.
Snoop Dogg plays “Doggystyle” in full at Catalpa in New York City.
Snoop Lion didn’t make an appearance that night. Snoop Dogg took the stage as Snoop Dogg, flanked by a cast of characters that made his 1993 debut album Doggystyle with him. And here’s where the analysis begins: Where does Snoop Dogg end, and where will Snoop Lion begin?
The Lion is a reggae artist, one who embraces peace and wants to write songs about “no guns” and “no violence.” The Dogg has always been a gangsta. In his performance at Catalpa, Snoop Dogg rapped about gangs and gunshots. Interspersed throughout this performance were a number of videos, including one where Snoop Dogg shoots a woman in the head and another where he points the gun at the audience. The gangsta storyline stuck around for nearly 60 minutes. This was definitely not a Snoop Lion-approved performance.
So how can Snoop Dogg really become Snoop Lion? Just days after announcing his newfound reggae religion, Snoop Dogg gave his most Snoop Dogg-esque performance. Sure, you can say that that was his last performance as Snoop Dogg (and it may very well have been). But with twenty years invested in the rap game, can Snoop Dogg really convince everyone that he’s changed? It takes artists years to develop an image. While they spend plenty of time honing their sound, they also definitely have to build an image.
Just last week, walking down the hall at WBR, I listened to artist developers talking about how they were going to tweak the image of an artist. I also heard an A&R representative explain to an intern that he couldn’t sign a band until he knew what their image was going to be.
Snoop Dogg has been Snoop Dogg for twenty years (again, that debut came out in 1992). It’s hard to throw away twenty years of development and expect people to immediately embrace a new genre with a “new” artist, especially when that “new” artist is actually really established. Plus, look at Snoop’s fan base. It’s hard to imagine that some diehard rap fans are going to switch to reggae. Vice, the label releasing the Snoop Lion album, can’t seriously expect legions of rap fans to make the change. Snoop Dogg said that he couldn’t write a song about “no guns” because it wouldn’t be taken seriously. Is a name change really enough to make it so?
People develop brand loyalty. That’s the way the world works. Snoop Dogg became a brand that a number of people could easily identify, and one that people still do. Snoop Dogg has a massive Twitter following, and he’s also developed an Instagram following that few have. Yet now he also has a Snoop Lion Twitter, and it’s mostly just Snoop Dogg retweets. So is there really a difference if one person is two artists?
It’s hard to believe that anyone is really ever going to be able to separate the Dogg from the Lion.
