Featured Image Credit: Warren Toda/EPA/Shutterstock/AFF/Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Celebrity
Emma Guinness
Topics: Celebrity
Snoop Dogg might be one of the world's most recognizable musicians, but his work has landed him in hot water more than a few times - and 10 years ago, it even saw him 'banned' from becoming a Rastafarian.
The singer, now 51, embraced the religion when recording his first reggae album Reincarnated, which was released back in 2013 and chronicled in an accompanying documentary.
But this did not go down well with some members of the Rastafarian community, who accused the singer of using their religion to promote his work out of pure self-interest.
Leading the critics was legendary singer-songwriter Bunny Wailer, who did not think that Snoop - who wanted to be known as Snoop Lion - was genuine in his interest in reggae and Rastafarianism.
Advert
Wailer took it upon himself to call for the rapper's 'ex-communication' from the the Rastafari Millennium Council in Jamaica in a Facebook statement in 2013, writing: "The word excommunication means putting [someone] out of communion.
"In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group. Excommunication may involve banishment, shunning, and shaming, depending on the religion, the offence that caused excommunication, or the rules or norms of the religious community."
While Wailer, a devout Rastafarian, only made the announcement on social media, he arguably did have some authority in this area as he was the one who had christened Snoop Dogg 'Lion' in the first place.
Wailer later claimed to TMZ that that Snoop had engaged in "outright fraudulent use of Rastafari Community's personalities and symbolism".
The Ethio-Africa Diaspora Union Millennium Council - AKA the Rastafari Millennium Council - also issued a seven-page letter to the rapper to ask him to stop appropriating their religion.
They said they wanted him to formally apologise and stop using the 'Lion' name and threatened a lawsuit before ultimately deciding to ex-communicate the rapper.
The criticism had a real effect on Snoop, who went on to tell NME that he was having doubts about his move into reggae at the time.
He said: "That (the transformation) was a priceless moment. I definitely feel like I'm gonna make more music, but I don't know if I'm gonna go to Jamaica, I may wanna go somewhere else."
Admitting that things hadn't quite gone as hoped, he added: "I may wanna venture into another part of the world. Some things you let them be what they are."
"I'm just saying I don't know if I want to repeat the same process as far as going to Jamaica and making a reggae album," he continued. "I may wanna go to another country and make a reggae album. I may wanna make a rap album. I don't know."
As Snoop Dogg is now very much back to being Snoop Dogg on social media, we can only assume that he took the 'ban' seriously.