Snoop Dogg returns to hip-hop roots on new album
Bouncy beats and the delights of marijuana feature on Snoop Dogg’s upcoming release Cool Aid
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Snoop Dogg has returned to his rap roots – as well as his familiar love of marijuana – as he released a new song on Tuesday and detailed his upcoming album.
Cool Aid, which will come out on July 1, will be Snoop Dogg’s first hip-hop album in five years, he said in a statement.
The first song, Kush Ups, is driven by a bouncy beat and explores the delights of marijuana; a popular strain with origins in South Asia is known as Kush.
Fellow hip-hop star Wiz Khalifa, joining Snoop Dogg on the song, boasts of the size of his joints and raps, “So much weight that now I’m doing Kush Ups”.
Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa also announced a joint 33-date tour of North America that will open on July 20 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A long-time aficionado of marijuana, Snoop Dogg debuted a video for the song on Merry Jane, a cannabis culture website he founded, and has invested in a smartphone delivery service for medical marijuana in his native California.
Snoop Dogg earlier appeared on a track entitled Kush with his mentor, rap mogul Dr Dre. He has previously collaborated with Wiz Khalifa. The pair, along with pop singer Bruno Mars, celebrated marijuana on the 2011 hit Young, Wild and Free.
Emerging from the gangsta rap scene of southern California, Snoop Dogg, who has sold more than 35 million albums worldwide, quickly found his calling with smoother sounds.
His previous album, Bush, took an R&B turn and featured songs with singing legends Stevie Wonder and Charlie Wilson.
In 2013, he renamed himself Snoop Lion and released a reggae album entitled Reincarnated.
The 44-year-old – despite a past that includes arrests over drug and weapons possession – is also the star of a new reality television show, Coach Snoop, that shows his side career as a youth football coach.
