Snoop Dogg’s bible of love

Snoop Dogg of the braided hair is always up to something. Most of the time, it is a different something. Originally a rapper, songwriter and producer with several No. 1 selling albums and his own label, he has over the years been literally everywhere and done a lot of unexpected things.

Aside from the rap and other gangsta stuff, Snoop is an actor who has starred in movies like Mac and Devin Go To High School, Bones, Training Day, The Wash and Starsky & Hutch, among others. He also appears on TV as guest star in series like Monk and Las Vegas, and game shows like The Price Is Right. He is currently the host of the revived The Joker is Wild. 

He has emceed a Wrestlemania episode and had his very own reality show, Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood with his wife and kids. Once, he even directed a porno flick for the magazine Hustler. Heard that he also does Wellness Retreats. He has not totally given up on rap as his album Make America Crip Again from a year ago is a big seller with excellent reviews.

One of his recent ventures on the small screen is the thoroughly enjoyable Martha & Snoop’s Pot Luck Dinner Party, which airs on cable here. That Martha is no other but the lifestyle maven Martha Stewart. A very strange pairing those two indeed and I have no idea how they got together. But the show works. Snoop raps a little but he is mostly playing games, cooking and sharing recipes, and playing host to their celebrity guests. 

So what else can Snoop do? A week ago, I came across another one of his surprising ventures. It is his latest album and it is a gospel collection called Snoop Dogg Presents Bible of Love. That is no figure of speech or a way of referring to something like Billboard Magazine is the bible of the music industry. Snoop’s Bible of Love refers indeed to the Bible. 

The Snoop Dogg once of Doggy Style has gotten religious. According to the media blurb this is Snoop’s dream project as he grew up listening to gospel music. It marks his debut as a gospel artist and executive producer of his new gospel music label, All the Time Entertainment, where he has already signed several artists.  

Bible of Love is doing very well sales-wise. The album is at present the No. 1 title in Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums hit list and is at No. 148 in the Top 200 Albums chart. This means that Snoop is succeeding in getting people to listen to his message of peace and love. That is what Bible of Love is all about. It is an uplifting run of gospel songs, rap and soul-baring bits with feel-good results for the listeners. 

No need for the usual Explicit label on Snoop’s album covers here. Bible of Love is not only wholesome, it is a sacred experience with, can you imagine, Snoop of Drop It Like It’s Hot and Sexual Eruption fame leading the congregation. He succeeds. 

The album has also received very good reviews and is described as a wonderfully realized package that is seen as the future of gospel music. I guess we can now expect to get a lot of hip-hop-tinged gospel releases. Although I doubt if any of those would be of the same magnitude as Bible of Love.   

It is an epic production that is made up of 32 tracks and features a varied line-up of guest artists. Best of the batch is Saved, a traditional gospel call and response number with a choir of extraordinary power. This diva has great pipes. Those not familiar with gospel artists will surely be impressed with the Clark Sisters whose cuts, Pure Gold, Blessed and Highly Favored, are among the album’s high spots.

Snoop does quite well but cedes the spotlight mostly to his featured artists. Instead, he comes and goes with spoken lines or duets with gospel singers like Kim Burrell on Sunshine Feel Good or with Rance Allen in Blessing Me Again.  

Bible of Love starts with a sweet Thank You Lord featuring Chris Bolton and goes on to wave after wave of proclamations of love and redemption. Among these are In The Name of Jesus by October London, Going Home by Uncle Chucc and The Zion Messengers, Sunrise by Sly Pyper, One More Day by Charlie Wilson, Come As You Are by Marvin Sapp and Mary Mary, My God by James Wright and many more.