Snoop Dogg, one of the legends in the hip hop music industry has swapped songs about drugs and girls for God and Christianity. When a controversial rapper like Snoop Dogg makes a gospel album, people are suspicious. The most questions on Social Media was, “is he trying to cash-in on God, or has he really accepted God?”
The Christian music industry is worth over $680 million in the United States alone. Globally, it is worth over £2 billion, no wonder main stream or non-Christian musicians are now trying to cash-in on the gospel music market.
Some musicians do both gospel and main stream music. Christian artists generally use secular styles, pairing them with lyrics that display faith and spirituality to varying degrees. But recently, we have seen a lot of non-Christian artists doing church just to attract the Christian market.
Rev Thomas Duke of St Saviours Church in Oxford said, “just because an album has some kind of connotation to God and Christianity does not mean we can label it as a gospel album. Anyone can shout ‘praise the Lord’ and it does not mean they are a brother or sister in the Lord.”
In a recent Youtube video, Snoop Dogg sang “I’m going home with Jesus, I’m going home with the Lord!” And he said “let’s make church great again, how about that?”
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, professionally as Snoop Dogg (sometimes shortened to Snoop and formerly called Snoop Doggy, Dogg or Snoop Lion)
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, the American music artist known professionally as Snoop Dogg (sometimes shortened to Snoop and formerly called Snoop Doggy Dogg) sold over 35 million albums across the world.
In 2012, after a trip to Jamaica, Snoop announced a conversion to the Rastafari movement and a new alias, Snoop Lion. He probably felt he was no longer a dog, but now a lion.
As a teenager, Broadus frequently ran into trouble with the law. He was said to be a member of the Rollin’ 20 Crips gang in the Eastside area of Long Beach. Although, he stated in 1993 that he never joined a gang. Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine, and for the following three years, was frequently in and out of prison.
Today, Snoop Dogg is attracted to gospel music. He has teamed up with gospel artist B-Slade for the song titled “Words are few.”
Lyrics in the song include: “Things ain’t what they seem, feeling Like I’m fooling me.”
“I know God is calling me; I’m not where I’m supposed to be.
“Sitting here smoking trees, when I should be on my knees.”
The song is the first from a new ‘gospel project’ he’s been working on.
Gospel music legend Fred Hammond is also expected to feature on the album.
In another Youtube message, Fred Hammond said; “When I heard the music I was surprised… Because, he is just calling on Jesus, over and over. I felt that man’s (snoop) heart and God is touching him to do this record.”
Fred Hammond (Award winning Gospel Singer)
Legendary Fred Hammond said: “No matter what anybody thinks, he (Snoop) is going to reach a platform that nobody in gospel music will ever reach.”
He continued; “If you lift up the name of Jesus, I will sing it as loud as I can with you. I am not ashamed of the gospel… and Snoop ain’t ashamed (of the gospel).”
Jesus spent all of his time reaching out to the downtrodden in society with gentleness and compassion. Remember the woman caught in the act of adultery. Who knows if Snoop is crying out to God?
