Snoop Dogg: Malice N Wonderland

Place both a sleek, modern new car and a custom old school in front of Snoop, and hands down, he’ll pick the old school. But you can’t be mad at the Doggfather for passing up on a new ride. “That’s my nature; that’s me,” he says about his preference. “I’m a ’70s baby, and I’m inspired by my generation ’cause when I was a kid that’s all I saw and it stayed in my mind—that’s what I get down with. These new sh*t don’t move me ’cause they ain’t gonna be here long since it changes all the time. Old stuff gets stuck and you can’t change it.”

While his garage does include several new rides, it’s his old schools that get his heart pumping. The 1967 Pontiac Parisienne, aka Snoop’s Lakers ride, that we first shot in Issue 54 now shows off his favorite NBA team on the outside with a custom mural. “I call it the ‘never-seen-it’ ’cause you ain’t never seen one like this before,” Snoop explains. “The mural on the front got all the greats from the Lakers’ organization, starting off with my main man, (RIP) Chick Hearn, Magic, Kareem, Kobe, and the greatest Lakers of all…me; why not.” Besides the mural done by Taz Rock, Snoop upgraded the car to bleed purple and gold with a custom interior, sound system enclosure in the trunk and even the hydraulic switches got the Lakers treatment.

“I bought the car in Vancouver when I was doing a video,” he continues. “It was all white, but I brought it back and had it whipped, dipped and flipped, so I could hit the strip. An old school car makes more noise when you hear it hitting the street opposed to a new car. If you have an old school car that looks good and a new school car, more people are gonna ask you about the old school one ’cause you’ll see five or six people with that new car.”

Besides his revamped Lakers ride, Snoop also digs his 1967 Fleetwood Cadillac “Snoopdeville” with the chandelier light that turns on when you open the front doors. The exterior features a one-of-a-kind paint job with Snoop’s name so you know who you’ll be riding with, as well as gold and platinum gold leafing done by Mike Lamberson, which Mike calls “Dragon Lines.” There’s also a mural on the trunk with Snoop’s portrait along with his two sons. “The mural is called ‘Me and my doggs,’” Snoop explains. “It symbolizes me and my sons and all of us being together. It’s a sweet car.” It rides on 16-inch Dayton 100-spoke wire wheels and Vogue tires.

But his Cadillac isn’t the only thing that’s sweet for Snoop; his career is probably even sweeter now since he’s recently been named Creative Chairman of the resurrected Priority Records, by parent company EMI Music. Along with the new position, he’s released his tenth studio album, Malice N Wonderland, on the famed West Coast label. Snoop will also act as executive producer for a number of new releases in celebration of the label’s 25th anniversary.

“The first thing I want to accomplish is to execute my record and make sure it comes out with a bang—sounds good, feels good—because that’s the beginning,” he says. “If I start with my record, it’s like a foundation. It’ll be the bar and the standards we reaching for; once I do that, we can go back and open the vault for all the great music that we created for the West Coast.” In the near future, Snoop hopes to re-release those records and put out compilations to mix old music with the new.

In a press release, Snoop said that the partnership was a great feeling. “It’s a new partnership, a new Priority Records, and a new Snoop Dogg: the Creative Chairman…the Boss Dogg…the Dogg Father. The business model we’ve developed will bring the musical heritage of groups like N.W.A. to the forefront,” he goes on to say.

In terms of his latest release, he describes it as being “the most potent dose of Snoop Dogg yet!” With epic collabs with music’s finest like The Dream, Brandy, Soulja Boy, R. Kelly, Pharrell and more, the new album will definitely feel good, according to Snoop. “It’s all about a party expression and celebrating what’s going on good in your life…feeling really good in my life right now.” Snoop actually handpicked every collabo on the album. “I always do my part first and then listen back and say, ‘Who’d make it sound dope,’ then I reach out. I’m like, ‘Nephew, it’s your uncle Snoop. I gotta heater right now. Can you get down with me?’ and they’re like, “Man, send it to me unc. I’m with it.’ Then that’s it!”

Taking about six months to make, Snoop acknowledges that this album is a bit more mature than his previous ones, but it still depicts the same old Snoop everybody has come to love and adore. The first half of the album is geared with gritty tracks reminiscent of Snoop’s earlier days, while the second half gets the party started. “When I first started to put together this record, I had a lot of malice in my heart—just focusing on making hardcore gangsta music…my mood later lightened and I wanted to make some music that just felt good to me and to the ladies.” The established West Coast rapper has successfully fused electro-hop with his classic old-school gangsta sound that keeps fans intrigued and wanting more from the Doggfather. So far, his favorite song on the album is the first song “I Wanna Rock,” for it’s “old school with a new twist” qualities.

For the new year, expect to see Snoop traveling around the world with DJ Quik, promoting Malice N Wonderland. The most anticipated stop on his tour is merely going overseas to feel the love of international fans. “Those fans don’t get to see you as much, so basically they embrace you a little bit more,” he says. But besides his tour, Snoop will also be working on an upcoming collabo album, Blaze!, with fellow West Coast rapper B-Real. Having been the good friends since they’ve been in the rap game, a collabo project was inevitable for the two lyricists. While neither has gone “full speed” on the album, Snoop expects to once the tour is done.

With a prosperous 2010 ahead of him, Snoop isn’t showing signs of slowing down and doesn’t let the industry dictate his career moves because he loves what he does. “I don’t stop and look at my place [within the industry] ’cause I’m still playing the game,” he explains. “I don’t take time to look at the stats of what I’ve done; I’m too busy trying to create more. [This is] a profession I chose because I was born to do it. I wouldn’t want to do nothing else ’cause I love every damn minute of it.”

Photos: Michael Vincent | michaelvincent.com