Snoop Lion - Reincarnated (Deluxe Edition) (2013)

Reincarnated is the twelfth studio album by American recording artist Snoop Dogg. It is his first release under his reggae persona Snoop Lion. The album was released on April 23, 2013, under Berhane Sound System, Mad Decent, Vice Records and RCA Records. The album is his departure from hip hop and his debut in the reggae genre. The album's production was handled mainly by Diplo and his group Major Lazer. The album features guest appearances from Busta Rhymes, Akon, Chris Brown, Mavado, Popcaan, Mr. Vegas, Collie Buddz, Miley Cyrus, Rita Ora, and Drake among others. The album's production was handled by Major Lazer, Ariel Rechtshaid, 6Blocc, Dre Skull, Supa Dups and Diplo, who also served as executive producer. It is a companion project to the documentary film Reincarnated. The album was nominated at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Reggae Album.

Snoop Lion has traveled to Jamaica and studied in the Nyabinghi branch of the Rastafari movement. He has cited reggae musicians such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs and Jimmy Cliff as influences for the album. Snoop has said, in regards to his new musical direction, "I feel like I've always been Rastafari, I just didn't have my third eye open." Diplo, Major Lazer, Ariel Rechtshaid and Dre Skull are the album's main producers, with Diplo serving as executive producer as well. Other producers, including 6Blocc and Supa Dups, among others.

Reincarnated was met with generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 53, based on 22 reviews. David Jeffries of Allmusic gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying "A little backstory goes a long way when it comes to this one, so fans who have seen the Reincarnated documentary and relate to the rapper's rebirth can go up one letter grade. Otherwise, Reincarnated the album is all heart and heart-in-the-right-place, threatening to mash up the system without ever even harshing the mellow." Simon Vozick-Levinson of Rolling Stone gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "Reincarnated is Snoop's most consistently enjoyable record in years. A righteous new name wasn't all he brought home from his Jamaican pilgrimage. He also forged a creative partnership with executive producer Diplo, who serves up a tasty swirl of sticky-sweet bass lines and electro crunch. Snoop does the job with surprising grace, stretching his laid-back flow into a blissful croon. There's a winning sincerity to his sunny jams extolling peace, love and gun control; even the weed anthems feel less phoned-in than usual. It's hard not to give it up for such a big, goofy bear hug to the universe." Andy Gill of The Independent gave the album four out of five stars, saying "This debut offering as Snoop Lion has much to recommend it, not least the infectious grooves devised by Diplo's Major Lazer production team, an engaging blend of languid roots modes and propulsive electro methods."

Alexis Petridis of The Guardian gave the album two out of five stars, saying "As a pop-reggae album it's patchily OK; as an addition to the canon of righteous Rastafarian spiritual music, it's profoundly unconvincing and a bit insulting. If you were Bunny Wailer, you too might get a bit cross about the reductive, cartoonish depiction of your religious beliefs. Then again, Snoop might argue, that's par for the course: he's been in the business of perpetuating cartoonish stereotypes from the start. People love them, and him, maybe more than they love his music, which has been patchy for decades. Taking that into account, they might love this. And if they don't, he can always go back to the Nine Inch Dicks." Kevin Jones of Exclaim! gave the album a four out of ten, saying "While the humanity and personal growth shown in Snoop Lion's Reincarnated documentary granted the legendary rapper some sympathetic cover for his dubious rebirth as a reggae-singing Rasta, the eponymous album at the heart of that story affords him no such luxury. The Diplo-directed record is a somewhat sloppy mish-mash of reggae cuts that rarely attain an authentic air, a couple of Rita Ora- and Miley Cyrus-assisted pop write-offs, and one bit of Major Lazer-lite, in the oddly-placed "Get Away." Brent Faulkner of PopMatters gave the album a six out of ten, saying "Uneven though sometimes enjoyable, Reincarnated is surprisingly better than expected. That said, the effort still stumbles into the pitfalls of a musician altering his direction and leaving his comfort zone. Snoop Lion pulls off this album off stronger than Lil Wayne did rock (Rebirth), but still, Snoop is best suited spitting over luxurious west-coast beats."

Craig Jenkins of Pitchfork Media gave the album a 5.0 out of ten, saying "Too much of it is an ill-advised cultural safari that's too weird to fly but too monied to fail. But where it succeeds, Reincarnated forces you to forget the principal ridiculousness of the enterprise, and that is no small feat." Keith Harris of Spin gave the album a four out of ten, saying "Reincarnated's highlight is "Ashtrays and Heartbreaks," with, yes, Miley Cyrus, still in her first flush of post-teen stonerdom, sounding every bit like the sort of suburban teen was led not-quite-astray by Snoop's previous incarnation. Yet, it may just make you feel sad for the minors of the future to whose delinquency Snoop will have nothing to contribute." Patricia Meschino of Billboard gave the album a 7.5 out of ten, saying "Reincarnated stands as an enjoyable pop record laced with an assortment of roots and dancehall reggae references. Its sprinkling of Rasta ideology has, laudably, redirected Snoop's gangsta lyrical exploits towards enriching themes such as ending gang wars and curbing gun violence." Omar Burgess of HipHopDX gave the album three out of five stars, saying "The road to discounted and discarded albums is paved with good intentions. Listeners fortunate enough to get the complete Reincarnated experience saw both Snoop’s moving documentary and got a brief taste of the music as well. Sadly, the album in and of itself doesn’t offer that similar window into Snoop’s evolution. Snoop Lion has transcended Hip Hop and possibly music in general. He’s courting some listeners who had either yet to be born or were too young to remember exactly what he’s being reincarnated from."

The album debuted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 21,000 copies in the United States. In its second week, the album sold 8,600 more copies. In its third week, the album sold 4,700 more copies. In its fourth week, the album sold 2,900 more copies. The album topped Billboard Top Reggae Albums for 34 non-consecutive weeks As of May 2015, the album has sold 104,000 copies in the United States.


Track List:
01. Rebel Way (04:44)
02. Here Comes The King (Feat. Angela Hunte) (03:24)
03. Lighters Up (Feat. Mavado And Popcaan) (03:46)
04. So Long (Feat. Angela Hunte) (03:40)
05. Get Away (Feat. Angela Hunte) (03:27)
06. No Guns Allowed (Feat. Drake And Cori B) (03:31)
07. Fruit Juice (Feat. Mr. Vegas) (02:37)
08. Smoke The Weed (Feat. Collie Buddz) (03:28)
09. Tired Of Running (Feat. Akon) (04:10)
10. The Good Good (Feat. Iza) (03:54)
11. Torn Apart (Feat. Rita Ora) (03:30)
12. Ashtrays And Heartbreaks (Feat. Miley Cyrus) (04:6)
13. Boulevard (Feat. Jahdan Blakkamoore) (03:12)
14. Remedy (Feat. Busta Rhymes And Chris Brown) (03:0)
15. La La La (03:27)
16. Harder Times (Feat. Jahdan Blakkamoore) (03:33)