The newly christened Snoop Lion, formerly of the surname Dogg, is preparing to release Reincarnated, a documentary about his trip to Jamaica to record with Diplo. The VICE-produced documentary premieres at the Toronto Film Festival Sept. 7 and will hopefully shed some light on what inspired the transition from Dogg to Lion.
In the trailer, Snoop explains that the trajectory of his career is made up of stages—both the sort that host a performance and those that measure cohesive stretches of time. Reincarnated shadows the rapper’s attempt to shed his old image and take on a new identity inspired by Rastafarian culture. As he puts it, “Fuck Snoop Dogg. Don’t think about none of the shit he rapped about… hustling and making money and drug dealing and shooting. All that shit be out of here.”
He insists that this is about more than the dreadlocks. Rather, it’s about finding a genuine way to be closer to Jah. Whether this is all that different from Snoop Dogg’s old way of reaching higher consciousness is still a bit, er, hazy.