NEWS
EVENTS
Snoop Lion's 'Ashtrays and Heartbreaks' Video Out
Thursday 30th May 2013 | Alex
Watch it here:
In short, it’s depressing, then funny, then depressing again.
He was good, wasn’t he? Snoop’s flipped now, from being likeable but a bit silly on the surface, to being a bit persuasive on the surface but fundamentally disgraceful.
It’s not a marketing ploy, at least, not just a marketing ploy. A couple of things tell us this: he was already a multi-platinum artist whose expansive career was barely waning, and nothing like this transformation’s ever been done before. It’s risk – would anyone put their career on the line to make this happen? It must've been a move driven by Snoop. Maybe he’s tumbling into that middle-aged stoner stage – his mind’s disintegrating and it’s not long ‘til he’s driving all day because he’s heard a store upstate might carry discount blueberries.
It is disheartening though. The 'Gin and Juice' Snoop Dogg would be disappointed if he could see himself now, and I think he has to pick one personality – the two directions are so completely disparate he can’t call his transformation ‘progression’. If he’s chosen ‘Ashtrays and Heartbreaks’ then he has to denounce ‘What’s My Name?’, and that’s really sad.
I’m not going to evaluate his new stuff within its own special genre or anything so hip – it is crap. But to lurch confusingly in the other direction, the new single’s better than I expected. It’s chorale and impassioned, and sways and pops with an excellent wobbly bass underneath. I just don’t like his attitude, man.
Written by Alex Dean - @AlexDean94
