MUMBAI: After a two-decade wait, fans of hip-hop star Snoop Dogg can enjoy his lazy Long Beach drawl when he performs on 11 January in Pune and on 13 January in Delhi. Multi-platinum artist (over 30 million albums sold) and generation defining rapper Snoop Dogg aka. Snoop Lion who landed up in India interacted with the media on his music and new found Rastafarianism faith.
“This is a long overdue tour for fans in India who have supported my music since 1992 and who will be there to see me do what I do. I plan to have a great time in Pune and Delhi. We didn’t know much about India and people tried to scare us; they didn’t want us to know about it (India),” Dogg said.
He said he was open to helping and collaborating with new regional talent in India. Dogg and his mentor cum collaborator Dr Dre who co- founded (the now defunct) Death Row Record label have nurtured a string of hip-hop and R&B talent in the last two decades. The label, which has been taken over by Wide Awake Entertainment for $ 18 million in 2005, had a roster of stars that included 2Pac Shukar, Suge Knight, The Dogg Pound.
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“I am open to meeting young artists and producers. This is a musical journey for me. My music has always been about helping people get through the day.”
Dogg, who had rapped for 2008’s Bollywood hit ‘Singh Is King’ said he was a fan of Bollywood films and liked it for its style and direction.
“I had fun in Singh is King and look forward to doing Bollywood films again.”
Talking about the hip hop music and his career, Dogg said when he started out in the early 90’s with his home boys, they had fun making music and being wild and free. The decade long feud between the West and East coast hip-hop stars during the 90’s to the early 2000’s that resulted in murders of stars like 2Pac Shakur and Notorious BIG were things of the past and that the past cannot be changed.
“We never thought our music would travel this far. Now there is no West Coast-East coast (faction) anymore. We try and make music and money. There are no misunderstandings. I am currently working on the documentary movie (due to be out in March), the record and book on my new album Reincarnated. “
He said however, he had no intention of passing on the rap and hip- hop torch to the new generation yet. They would have to take from him.
On his newly adopted faith of Rastafari Movement, Dogg said that it was not about being intrigued with a new faith but a natural progression for a musician and that his new found faith made him wise and strong, and helped him in his music. The Rastafari Movement, which was started in Jamaica in the 1930’s is considered by its followers who worship the Emperor of Ethopia, Haile Salassie, as Jesus incarnate, more as a ‘way of life’ than a formal religion.
“When I am in, I am all in. And when I am out, I am out. In Rastafari I am all in.”
