A Spiritual Journey That Lasted Slightly Longer Than a Priest’s Blessing Over a Record Deal
In 2012, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., known professionally and planetarily as Snoop Dogg, announced that he was no longer a dog. Following a soulful pilgrimage to Jamaica, Snoop declared that he had been reincarnated—not metaphorically, but spiritually and, in a sense, bureaucratically—as Snoop Lion.
The transformation was accompanied by the release of a reggae album titled *Reincarnated*, an official documentary film, and several Instagram photos featuring Snoop in flowing tropical tunics with a lion’s mane headdress that was either costume or prophecy. He claimed that the name change had been bestowed upon him by a high priest of the Nyabinghi branch of the Rastafari movement, during a ritual that reportedly involved sage smoke, reflection, and probably a melodica solo.
Snoop Lion was a new man. Gone were the days of gangsta rap and G-funk. In their place stood a peaceful herb ambassador advocating for love, unity, and perhaps the world’s most chilled-out agricultural export. His debut reggae single, “La La La,” featured lyrics about motherhood, marijuana, and tropical positivity, which might have confused fans who expected a more familiar lyrical mention of lowriders and Long Beach.
However, the Lion phase was finite. Roughly a year later, without public fanfare or ecclesiastical reversal ceremony, Snoop began performing and recording again as Snoop Dogg. It remains unclear whether the high priest revoked his lionhood, if the jungle itself politely asked for its cat back, or if Snoop simply missed the way the word “izzle” sounded in a West Coast dialect.
To this day, the Snoop Lion chapter remains an official if short-lived saga in Snoop’s extensive multi-species résumé. Among his other identities—rapper, actor, reality TV star, cookbook author, and Martha Stewart’s unlikely daytime confidant—Lion represents the time he chose to transcend terrestrial forms and become a reggae-fueled apex predator of peace, all while still managing to drop feature verses on hip-hop tracks under both names.
He remains unchallenged as the only artist in music history to change species by way of spiritual notarization, publish an album about it, and then revert casually, all within one fiscal year.