Snoop Lion’s homage to old school video games in his latest visual “Get Away,” from his Grammy-nominated album Reincarnated. Directed by Ashten “Whoopi” Winger. Animated by Mykola Dosenko.

Latest visual from Snoop Lion’s Grammy-nominated album, Reincarnated. Featuring Collie Buddz & cameos from Sugafree, Curren$y + more.

Reincarnated is a documentary film from VICE films that chronicles Snoop Dogg’s transformation into Snoop Lion, and the recording of the album of the same name, alongside Major Lazer. The film offers insight into why Snoop chose to go this route, and had it been packaged with this album, may have given listeners a better understanding of what made him do this.

We’ve followed Snoop’s career from early-adulthood to that of an “old man”, as he describes himself at one point in the film, and one thing that has always followed him – aside from success – is death. While this sounds a bit sensational in a world of fake gangster rappers, Snoop’s unfortunate track record speaks for itself. He beat the case of murder given to him in 1994, yet watched his peers 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. get gunned down after an East-Coast / West-Coast feud that he was a part of. Most recently he saw his friend Nate Dogg pass on, among numerous other less famous friends and family members passing on over the years. His quest to Jamaica is chronicled in Reincarnated, a move he wanted to make after “people started dying”.

VICE Films expertly chronicles Snoop’s month in Jamaica, just as they have in other foreign lands, like North Korea and Liberia in recent years. In the film, we see Snoop attempt to escape the violence and death that has followed him over the years by changing who he is as a person and as an artist. This spiritual journey finds him recording his reggae album with Diplo at the legendary Tuff Gong studios, meeting with greats such as Bunny Wailer and Stephen Marley, and smoking a lot of weed. A LOT of weed.

His meeting with Bunny Wailer is the film’s most interesting moment, as the former Bob Marley collaborator welcomes Snoop into his home. Together they smoke some of Snoop’s California bud out of a hollowed-out carrot, a method that is clear Wailer has been using for decades. This meeting is where Wailer first dubs him “Snoop Lion”, and is followed by an invite to the studio. All things turn to business later in the film, when Bunny and his management are concerned that if they record together, the song will be commercialized, or worse, sandwhiched in between an album full of gangsta rap.

Yet Snoop’s intentions seem pure as the weed he constantly smokes during his Jamaican trek. Reggae music is a very niche genre, one that doesn’t amount to huge sales stateside, so his newfound sense of peace has little to do with dollar signs. As the film demonstrates, even as he escapes from Jamaica, Daz finds out via text message that his nephew died in his sleep. Even as far as Jamaica, the shroud of death follows Snoop and his crew.

On paper, Snoop Dogg’s transformation into Snoop Lion might seem like a stretch, or even a bit silly. But Reincarnated gives insight into Snoop’s life, portraying him as a likable guy, who made the change for good reason. And with him most recently taking on the alias of “Snoopzilla” for his funk project with Dam-Funk, this change may be far more than marketing.

Snoopzilla teams with Stones Throw producer Dâm-Funk for the 7 Days Of Funk project, due December 10th. Check out a full stream of the project courtesy of NPR.

Snoop’s latest visual from the Reincarnated album, featuring Nipsey Hussle, Keke Palmer & Tyrin Turner.

In part one, Uncle Snoop explains closing the gap and the challenges of success to A$AP Rocky. In part two, A$AP and Snoop talk about Drake, Pac, and growing up.

“The Good Good” music video by Snoop Lion is a continuation of Snoop’s new Overstock.com commercial. The video features the Broadus family (Shante “BossLady”, Cori B, Corde “Spank”, Cordell “Rook”) and artist Mali Nicole. “The Good Good” is the latest single off of Snoop’s newest album, Reincarnated.

From Cory Mo’s upcoming LP, Take It Or Leave It.

G.O.O.D. Music’s self proclaimed “Mr. Endowed” links with Big Sean and Snoop Lion for this unreleased collabo.

From Resurrection, available now.

Snoop Lion discusses the recent transformations of both his name and his music.

It’s no coincidence that Major Lazer’s Free The Universe and Snoop Dogg’s Lion’s Major Lazer produced reggae record, Reincarnated, are being released within a week of one another. At the helm of both of these projects is Diplo, the forward thinking, genre-defying producer who moonlights as one of the country’s top paid DJ’s, while making strange combinations like Afrojack, Chris Brown, and Busta Rhymes work (“Look At Me Now”). So naturally, with Diplo magically making square pegs fit into round holes, there’s obviously hopes that audiences will intersect, much like the sound of a Major Lazer show.

But as a whole, Free The Universe and Reincarnated couldn’t be more different from one another. Sure, both are rooted in reggae, but each select different sub-genres for their core sound. Major Lazer’s album is a non-stop, fun party record, while Snoop’s is better for a night home on the couch, with a remote and a box of big blunts.

Many parts of Free The Universe have already gained anthemic status (despite 2011′s “Original Don” being curiously missing), such as the dubstep powered, Johnny Osbourne freaking “Jah No Partial” (w/ Flux Pavilion), the moombah-bomb “Watch Out For This (Bumaye)” (w/ Busy Signal, The Flexican, FS Green), or the already classic “Get Free” (w/ Amber of Dirty Projectors). Free The Universe successfully builds on top of this blueprint, with raucous party starters like “Jet Blue Jet” (feat. Leftside, GTA, Razz, & Biggy) or “Wind Up”, which finds Elephant Man and Opal naturally settling into the more electronically driven Major Lazer sound. Things are balanced out with more laid back selections like the catchy “Jessica” (feat. Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend) or “Keep Cool” w/ Shaggy and Winter Gordon.

The only track that doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the record is Wyclef’s “Reach For The Stars”, sounding much more like something on one of Jean’s lesser popular albums, than that of the genre-bending Major Lazer sound. Other than that, the album plays solidly throughout, almost like a electronic / dancehall tinged equivalent of a Gorillaz LP, with multiple surprises about. It’s almost best to listen to this album without looking at the tracklist first, and let those guest appearances bring a smile to your face when they happen. (Cue: “Bubble Butt”).

While this album is proof that Diplo is a producer with a finely tuned ear, with the ability to bring the best out in his collaborators, things don’t fare quite as well on Snoop’s Reincarnated. The prospect of Snoop making a full album about weed is not that far of a stretch, but going full on Rastafarian might be a tougher bud for some to smoke. Naturally, these two records’ close release window has Free The Universe setting the stage for Reincarnated, but the Major Lazer LP steals the show like an overzealous opening DJ. The other way to look at it though, is that if Free The Universe is the party, Reincarnated is the after-party.

As stated at the beginning of this album, Snoop’s motivation for his transformation…er, reincarnation… into Snoop Lion is to move beyond the negativity and violence and to… promote world peace? Take it how you will, but Snoop’s turned over a new leaf since “Murder Was The Case”, as songs like “Lighters Up” and “No Guns Allowed” call for a cease fire, in the wake of endless gang violence, whether here, or off in some far away land. These tracks take a mellower pace than the dancehall bangers found on Free The Universe, yet this lack of variety seems to make everything run together. “Here Comes The King” and “So Long” seem like honest efforts at making some peace loving reggae music, but the end result seems like it will be met with a collective “ho-hum” from his usual audience.

There are a few tracks that do disrupt the album’s monotony with varying results. “Fruit Juice” is by far the album’s most original track; a dancehall duet with Mr. Vegas, as the two profess their love for “Sweet sap, knees berry, cantaloupe, soup sop /Pineapple, mango [their] taste buds tangle”. On the flipside of that coin, the EDM-infused “Get Away”, doesn’t fare as well, and can be added to a stack of similar songs that today’s rappers will look back on one day and ask “What we’re we thinking?” Finally, the closing crossover cut, “Ashtrays & Heartbreaks” (feat. Miley Cyrus) isn’t as bad as it sounds on paper (and has nothing to do with her father’s “Akey Breaky Heart”), and shows potential for Miley’s own reincarnation, however you might feel about it.

The release of Free The Universe and Reincarnated back-to-back was a smart marketing move, and will undoubtedly inspire fans to check for both releases, despite how wildly different they might be. Major Lazer’s entry will easily find it’s way onto many year-end lists, yet Snoop’s Vice produced Reincarnated documentary may prove far more compelling than the album itself.

While Major Lazer’s long-awaited Free The Universe hit stores today, Snoop Lion’s Major Lazer produced LP, Reincarnated, hits next week. Check out a stream of the whole thing below.

Produced by Major Lazer and Ariel Rechtshaid. From the album, Reincarnated, due later this month.