Edd’s MANtra: Introducing Snoop Lion
Show of hands – who likes superheroes n’ stuff?
Don’t front, y’all spent $337 billion on The Dark Knight Rises in the past couple of weeks. Clearly, you like ’em as much as I do.
As great as The Dark Knight Rises was, 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was not. Kind of like comparing Nas’ latest album to Rick Rawsssssse’s. But I digress.
At the end of the Transformers movie (SPOILER ALERT), our hero Optimus Prime acquires the spare parts of geriatric airplane robot Jetfire to become VOYAGER OPTIMUS PRIME and whip up on the bad guys. The funny thing is, unless you’re a super comic geek, you probably didn’t know that Optimus’ upgrade came with a name change. Most people just assumed he threw on his boy’s jet-powered bones and that he was the same ol’ Optimus with a shiny new backpack.
What does ANY of this have to do with Snoop Dogg? Well, Snoop just got his own upgrade.
Snoop Dogg has officially dropped the Dogg act and upgraded his name to “Snoop Lion”.
The rapper says he underwent a spiritual and artistic rebirth while in Jamaica where he was given the new moniker by Rastafarian priests.
Legally he isn’t any sort of animal, of course, but must go by the name Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr.
“I want to bury Snoop Dogg, and become Snoop Lion” Mr Broadus Jr told journalists at a news conference in New York.
“I didn’t know that until I went to the temple, where the High Priest asked me what my name was, and I said, ‘Snoop Dogg.’ And he looked me in my eyes and said, ‘No more. You are the light; you are the lion.’ From that moment on, it’s like I had started to understand why I was there.”
The 40-year-old said as a result of his reincarnation, his new album will be a reggae record as he finds rap no longer “a challenge.”
“There comes a point where you say I done it all, or there isn’t much more to do,” he said. “This was like a rebirth for me.
So Snoop, in search of enlightenment, sought the wisdom of Rastafarian priests, who unleashed his inner beast. No longer is he Dogg. He is Lion. Hear him roar.
Throw your ThunderCat signals in the air! Wave ’em like you just don’t care!
 |
| Image via |
Playa please.
When I think of lions, I think of this.
Not this.
Has there ever been a rapper more obsessed with his name than Snoop Dogg?
“What’s My Name”
“Doggy Dogg World”
“Snoop’s Upside Ya Head”
“Doggfather”
“Snoopafella”
“Snoop Dogg”
And that’s just his singles, I’m not counting all the puppy-related puns he’s used as album titles over the years. Even P. Diddy Daddy isn’t that name-narcissistic.
It might be too early to be this pessimistic, but that’s never stopped me before. I worry that Snoop’s new moniker will make him rap’s Voyager Optimus Prime. Voyager Optimus Prime was just regular-ol Optimus Prime with shiny new wings (word to Red Bull). If Snoop Lion’s “reinvention”consists of him rapping about the same ol’ tired topics (weed n’ women) except with a shiny new rastacap, no one will be fooled – except for the poor kids who collect any ol’ Optimus Prime toy Snoop Dogg album.
Seriously, Snoop is in dire need of reinvention, so I actually applaud this redirection. I just hope he knows it will take more than a coat of paint to get the desired result. Prove me wrong, Snoop. I’d hate for your new name to go unnoticed, like poor Voyager Optimus.
Okay Ed, stop cause I’m crying over here! From the first image to the last line of text, bravo sir..Bravo! Great read! I am a geek and I didn’t even know Prime got a new name. But anyway, I really hope the weed smoking self appointed Mufasa of Rap just doesn’t start sampling the legend Bob Marley and putting a rhyme to it and call it Rasta or Reggae. You are the king of deflating celebrities egos. Cheers mate!