Snoop drops Dogg in favor of big cat
Snoop Dogg wants you to know that he is tired of hip-hop, is “ Bob Marley reincarnated” and is embracing reggae instead of the culture of guns he once rapped about. Also, he’s got a new name: Snoop Lion.
The artist said at a news conference Monday in New York that he was “born again” during a visit to Jamaica in February and is ready to make music that his “kids and grandparents can listen to.”
The former gangster rapper is releasing a reggae album called “Reincarnated” in the fall. He said that in Jamaica, he connected with Bob Marley’s spirit and is now “Bob Marley reincarnated.” Bob Marley’s son Rohan attended the conference and gave Snoop his blessing.
“I feel like I’ve always been Rastafarian,” Snoop said of the spiritual Jamaican movement. While there, he said, he visited a temple, was renamed Snoop Lion and was also given the Ethiopian name Berhane, meaning “light of the world.”
Snoop didn’t explain why he was switching from “Dogg” to “Lion,” but it’s likely a reference to the Lion of Judah, a religious symbol popular in Rastafarian and Ethiopian culture.
Gooding Jr. allegedly pushed woman
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is wanted by New Orleans police for allegedly pushing a female bartender twice in a French Quarter business early Tuesday morning.
New Orleans police issued a battery arrest warrant for the Oscar-winning actor Tuesday in relation to the incident on Bourbon Street about 3 a.m., according to New Orleans officials.
The bartender told officers that Gooding entered the bar with a group of people and that after a few minutes other customers recognized him and started asking him to take photos with them, officials said in a statement.
The bartender claimed Gooding “soon became very aggravated with them,” officials said. But when she approached him and asked him to calm down, Gooding pushed her away with an open hand, she told police. One of the bartender’s co-workers then called 911, police said.
The bartender allegedly told Gooding the police were on the way and he needed to leave. Police said Gooding then pushed her again and left the bar.
The birthday bunch
Actor-director Geoffrey Holder is 82. Singer Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is 81. Actor Giancarlo Giannini is 70. Blues singer-musician Robert Cray is 59. Rock singer Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) is 53. Rapper Chuck D (Public Enemy) is 52. Rapper Coolio is 49. Rock singer Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) is 48. Movie director Sam Mendes is 47. Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is 39.