The Insider.com

Snoop Dogg has joined a long line of musicians who have officially changed their name mid-career: Puff Daddy became P. Diddy, Prince became The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, Garth Brooks became Chris Gaines and Cat Stevens became Yusuf Islam -- so ladies and gentleman, please familiarize yourself with Snoop Lion!

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"I want to bury Snoop Dogg, and become Snoop Lion," he told journalists at a news conference in New York yesterday. This spiritual and artistic rebirth came about while the artist was in Jamaica, where the new name was bestowed upon him by Rastafarian priests.

"I didn't know that until I went to the temple, where the High Priest asked me what my name was, and I said, 'Snoop Dogg.' And he looked me in my eyes and said, 'No more. You are the light; you are the lion.' From that moment on, it's like I had started to understand why I was there."

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Given his newfound outlook on life, Snoop's next album will be entirely reggae. "There comes a point where you say I done it all, or there isn’t much more to do," he said, adding, "With no disrespect to other rappers, but they can't f*ck with me in rap ... I've won every accolade you can get in rap, they call me 'Uncle Snoop' in rap. When you're an uncle, it's time to find something new ... I want to feel like a kid again."

Or, ya know, feel like a cub again.