tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with snoop lion, who we might know better as rapper snoop dog. he is the subject of a new documentary entitled "reincarnated," which chronicles his travel to jamaica to record a new cd and the transformational experience while he was there. we are glad to be joined with 16-time grammy nominee snoop lion about how reggae and a new appreciation of family and friends are remaking his life. that conversation starts right now. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can

stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: there is an old adage that says that who you work is not what -- is not who you have to be. that old adage certainly applies to snoop lion. he came on the scene at the height of gangster rap in the 1990's. the death of some of his closest friends made snoop lion rethink his life. he traveled to jamaica to record

some reggae with the finest musicians in that field. in a documentary, called "reincarnated," is about the making of that cd. before we start our conversation with snoop lion, we take a look at a clip from the documentary. >> snoop dogg is still in jamaica, participating in authentic jamaican culture. ♪ >> i have been on the talk -- on the top. i have rap songs that will never die. i want to do a whole record without wrapping -- without rapping. snoop dogg do nothing about hustling and making money and

drug dealing. all that be outta here. tavis: so much wanted talk to you about. i do not have time. let me start with jamaica. of all the places to go to connect or reconnect, why jamaica? >> i do not even know why. it felt like the place to be. i have been around a whole world many times. there was something about the jamaican people and spirit that made me feel like i was always a part of it. made me want to reconnect and find the real history of who i am and what i am. tavis: what about the music, reggae in particular? >> is always a style that professes love. for my music, i have always embodied a mannerism of gangster rap. i have always wanted to spread love. reggae music was the perfect vessel for me to express my expression. tavis: when who you really are is about love, anybody who has

spent any time with you know is that you are fun to hang around with, a cool brother, loving brother, a kind cat. what comes out in your lyrical content for most of your career is not that. where has that been? where do you hide that away? >> i have always been able to express it through my comedy, the fund on my records, for me personally. people who got a chance to see me through my tv show years and getting a chance to just roll with it. until you sit down and understand snoop dogg, you will not know that he is a fun- loving, cool guy who loves to be around people and make people have fun. tavis: when you were growing up in the lbc, long beach, as we all know. there is a wonderful part in the documentary where you say very candidly, you are real and put it out there, you say very

candidly that when you're in high school, you had two choices. you could make $80 a week or $1,500 a night selling drugs. if you say very simply, what would you do? $80 a week or $1,500 a night? that was an honest answer. nobody is condoning drug dealing. take me back to that moment and how you find yourself having that choice? >> i was working at lucky's, a grocery store on the corner of 60th and atlantic. i lived on 61st and atlantic, where the dope spot was. i was going home -- going to work after school every day, but when i would go home, my friends would be hanging out outside and they would have tons of money and they were not doing any work. they told me to the side and were like, you need to stop working over there and work right here. if you live here. you can make more money than all of us. at first, i was scared.

i got involved and i saw that it was easy money. i continued to do it and i lost my job and ended up losing my way. when you are doing right, you have got to do all the way right. when you are wrong, you have got to be all the way wrong. there is no -- ain't no halfways. i lost my path. tavis: were you ever frightened about how long you will live? so many young people today, fans of your music, who lived in a world, culture, inner-city is, where they do not expect to live to be your age or my age. >> i did not think i would be 21. that is real. because of what was going on around me and the way that people lived around me. 21 was a blessing. if you made it to 21, you were looked at as an oold g. once i made it, i made an aspiration to live to 41.

reach for something higher. now you really made it. i instill that in the heads of my youth in the community. we are designed to live. we want to live. tavis: you keep saying things that make me think about the use in your community. not just in your community, but you get major credit for this football league that you basically on and run and financed out of your pocket. why football? tell me about how you got into hanging out with these kids. >> i started this league nine years ago. my oldest son was playing football. he did not like the way that billy was catered towards orange county. we were not living in orange county. we come from the hood. we want this league to be for single parents, people from the hood. we created opportunities for people to become better fathers and the kids that we put out started to graduate from high school, started to go to

college. we have a kid right now who plays for the denver broncos, a running back who came out of our football league. this lee was started from an idea of watching and seeing and saying, i want to help. not talking about it but being about it. going in my own pocket and putting up $1 million. making the ft $100 for every kid rid it does not matter if you can play, it is about the kids, taking them off the streets, giving them something positive. and i am a mentor, someone they can touch hands with, i am right there with them. tavis: i will come back to the music in a moment. a wonderful comment that, unlike most artists, you have been on top from the very beginning. before your first record came out, you were already on top.

we will come back to the music in a moment and the record sales. how important has it been be on the record sales up to this point? how important has it been to you what other people think about you? or has that not been a priority? >> that has been a major priority for me. i am young at heart. if you do not ever want to be looked at as old, he does not look -- he does not know what he is talking about. i always respected the old man in my community, no matter how old you got, you respected them. they connected. they never tried to be too old or too wise. one thing about me and the kids, we stay i die. i treat them like -- we stay eye-to-eye. i do not tell them to be like me. i tell them to be better than me because i'm a bad decisions. through my journey, i tried to help and correct those making

the mistakes i did. tavis: in your journey, there are seminal moments. you were so real in the documentary, which makes it easy? this conversation. you put this out there, some of it for the first time. i will come back to those seminal moments in just a second. how difficult has it been to start on top and to stay on top? you have been on top from the very beginning. you know this better than i do. in the rqap game, that is unheard of. >> it is like one and done. tavis: but you have been on top from the very beginning. >> i attribute that to just having an year. -- an ear. i treat my fans like family. even before the social networks came out, i was tweeting with my fans.

once they could follow me and be part of my everyday life, i was one of the first ones to open up and put them in. we have a great relationship. over the years, it is not about the music. it is about the person. they respect the person. we built a personal relationship to where music is the backdrop. the personalities and the relationship involved is the foreground. tavis: when i say this, it is going to start a fight. when everett perrin want -- whenever anyone says something stupid, it starts a controversy on social media. a list about who has the coldest flow ever. you have your list, i have mine. i have snoop on my list, biggie , er -- i raise that because, i raise this with all due respect, do

you remember the scene in malcolm x when all of the -- when malcolm is in front of the jail and all the brothers are lined up. the line basically is, that is too much power for one negro. a powerful scene. i was in a conversation about that one day and somehow your name came up. somebody in the crowd said as we were talking about you that if snoop were saying something, he would be dangerous. if his music was riding -- was really saying something, that negro would be dangerous. i love the fun in your music. now that you have this snoop lion thing coming out, does that comment writ at you at all? >> i have always felt like that, too. i have always been in positions -- for example, i was at the liev 8 concert. we were in london in some big

part. i look to the side of the stage, bill gates, paul mccartney, david beckham, just to name a few read george michael's, the best of the best are watching me get down. i am cussing up a storm. they rocking with me. i look at them like, i sure wish come day -- i had a ♪ together, right now, in unity. ♪ i did not have that. it made me feel like this album is so necessary. i have not been saying nothing. tavis: i would not say nothing. >> but pertaining to what really matters. i have a song on this new album saying "no guns allowed." imagine what that is about to

read all of this shooting and killing going around. somebody getting shot at school the next day, we have got to figure this out. i made a song called "no guns allowed." it is saying what needs to be said. no guns allowed tonight. tavis: what is the risk in doing that? i had 50 cent on this show one time. he admitted to me that he tried to make a turn away from this to that. fell flat. >> it isn't for everybody. i never did it for money or sales. at the beginning of the show, you said i was nominated for 16 grammys. i never won one. it is not about the accolades. the people i can reach, the connection, the relationship. a grammy could never give me what the success has given me, a relationship, a conversation,

all of these cameras, all these people listening, wanting to know. that means more than any award. tavis: at this point in your life, are we going to get a different thing, this new thing consistently? or is it all is going to be about message music now? >> what is necessary is necessary for right now. there needs to be a message right now. we can always have fun. that is what i do, who i am. at the end of the day, sometimes you have to be serious and know that it is a problem and we need to fix it. if i start off by being one of the ones that can lead, there is a problem, we need to fix it, what is happening. i can roll with the light on. it is a jungle out there. tavis: how difficult is it, how

much of a challenge is it, how much fun is it to try to find a way to deliver a message with a groove and with a hook and a beat that we have come to expect from snoop with a flow that we are still going to get off on? how difficult was it in this product -- in this project? >> it was difficult, challenging, and fun. it was all free. that is what makes the project worth doing. i'm going to lay down and let you do whatever you want to do. i am at that when in my career. i feel like a whitney houston, a well-established artist who can have someone come in and write them a hit record. does not have to be my pen all the time. my expression, does not have to be my pen. it was about me picking and choosing at the end of the day. that feels right.

that is what i am looking for. you all sound like snoop dogg. i told you, i want snoop lion. i am not doing no snoop dogg. writers tended here what you used to sound like. you sounded also on qassam. i am not rapping on this. i need reggae. tavis: how difficult was it for you, since we are so used to you during your -- doing your stuff, how difficult was it to surrender yourself to somebody else's writing? >> i trust me. i never doubt me. you know what i'm saying? when you trust yourself, it does not matter who. i came out with dr. dre. how could i be more critical than being with the greatest producer in hip-hop? he takes me and he baptizes me in the game on my first record. not even talking about his

record. to me, i baptized him because i took him to the hood. my second move, my record, he baptized me. i learned that sometimes i am at my best when i allow you to work on me. because i cannot see that. i'm too busy doing it. tavis: you mentioned dre. a lot of folks you have been on this journey with, speaking of collaborating. thankfully, dre is still here in a major way. >> and healthy and making a cake -- making cake. tavis: some of the people who have been on this journey with you are no longer here. you talk about how these chapters of your life have helped to write the story that we are now reading. i want to pick a couple of them out. first, your mom. >> that was small -- that was

one of my best friends in the hip-hop game. when we met, we were both so vigilante in the news. he was going to jail. i was going to jail. we became friends. through our friendship, it on -- it found it -- it bonded into a brotherhood. when he was incarcerated, i brought him on death row and we became blood brothers. at the end of the day, from the documentary, you see that we were not eye-to-eye. that hurts my heart that my homie got killed and we were not eye-to-eye. you love to get that misunderstanding corrected. it has been always in my heart that i did not get a chance to do that. his mother knew that as well. that is a dark spot in my heart. when you are here with somebody, you have got to love them now. if you are wrong, admit you were

wrong. if you are right, say you are wrong. you never know what tomorrow will have. tavis: another person that is impossible to talk to you about without mentioning his role, nate dogg. >> one of the people i became a man with. clowning around, getting suspended, hanging in the back, playing church league basketball games together. when we decided to make music, it was crazy. he was not an original member in our group. i made a song and the song was not right and i called nate. he came and sung it over. he out the group, you are in. i am talking like a kid right now because i think of all the fun that i had. i cannot think of nothing bad. only the good things. tavis: as a fan, it is almost

impossible to go wrong when you have your flow and his hook. that is a dangerous thing. >> imagine us hooking up in high school in the back of a class, hitting on the tablehittingme rapping, him singing. the teachers like, what are you doing? we are rocking so hard, the teachers like, do not stop. keep on going. hello. tavis: the other part that comes through in this documentary is the degree to which your family has helped to grow. your wife, your kids, your own journey, your own maturity relative to your family. i will let you speak on that. >> i was so wrong to my family at the beginning of my success. i was put them in the backdrop. i would have my son show up to some things, my wife to some things. but i was very disrespectful. i can admit that now. i have always treated my career

as if it was my family. i had to realize that my career means nothing without my family. i had to reverse that and put them in first place, put my career in second place by putting them on my tv show and showing the world that i love my family enough to raise them in front of you, expose everything i do, how i get down and why i get down. also just seeing them help me be a better father, husband, man. they go for things in life that i have to deal with that helped me become a better person. i need my family, love my family, and i will never put them second to music, movies, tv, no matter what. i always apologize to them for that. i will do it again. i apologize for putting the second when you should have been the first and only thing in my life. tavis: inside the business question. you are not the first person to make a name switch. i'm still getting used to saying

snoop lion. this is the second time. snoop doggy dogg, snoop dogg, now snoop lion. inside the game, what is that process like? how difficult is it to make the switch when your fans know you one way? >> some people still call me doggy dogg, some people call me snoop dogg, and some people call me snoop lion. some people will be like, snoop lion! somebody is like, snoop lion? he changed his name? what name is the going by? you can call me whenever you wanted it is still me. to me, snoop lion is the growth of snoop dogg into manhood, wiser, more educated, more articulate, speaking something that needs to be said as opposed to having fun all the time. we have too much fun and do not

deal with what is real. we have to let the fund be the backdrop and the real be the fourth round. tavis: you are flowing again, man. it just comes naturally. march 15, documentary comes out. you have a blockbuster on your hand. a lot of folks are going to check this out. what do you hope the takeaway will be for the viewer? >> the take away, that they were able to enjoy the during you -- the journey with me. this was a beautiful journey, the good, the back, and the ugly. i just want you to enjoy the ride. tavis: this is my 10th year on pbs. before that, bet and the other stuff. i have always enjoyed you coming to see me. >> i love how you get down. i have been with you from day one. keep doing your thing. tavis:my boy, snoop lion.

the documentary is called "reincarnated." march 15 is when you can check it out. that is our show for tonight. until next time, thanks for tuning in and as always, keep the faith. ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with elisabeth moss about her new series and the return of "madmen."

>> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. >> be more. pbs.