Ottawa Bluesfest 2008 welcomes a diverse and prolific roster. On Sunday, July 6th, live from Long Beach, California, Snoop Doggy Dogg, graced the stage a few minutes before 6:30PM. Staying true to stereotypical form myself, I entered the venue a few minutes late just in time to catch the beginning of the show; the timing was perfect. As I passed through the main gates I could smell the pleasant aroma of some of the capital's finest herbs wafting through the air. Greeting friends and acquaintances as I passed through the crowd I noticed that the concert goers were even more diverse and prolific than the 2008 Bluesfest roster. From retro 80's garbed hipsters to fans of The Tragically Hip, young kids to senior citizens all crowded in around the Bank of America Stage to take in the sites, sounds, energy and "sticky icky" aroma of Snoop D. O. double G.

Opening his set with the classic "The Next Episode", from Dr. Dre's Chronic 2, Snoop really set the tone of the show. As I watched Snoop’s Diamond encrusted custom personalized microphone glisten in the sun I couldn't help but smirk as I realized the irony of the whole affair. Moments later, while purchasing an overpriced and partially cold beer, the speakers blasted out "I Wanna Fuck You", Snoop's recent collaboration with Akon. The crowd was loving it. Festival goers all united as one, on a Sunday evening, singing the praises of Cannabis Sativa, gun violence, and living off the avails of prostitution. An interesting circumstance for our nation’s capital.

Let me explain. Only 10 months ago there was quite an uproar over Carleton University's Student Federation "Rock the Vote" engagement headlined by hip-hop icon Nas. There was much debate in Ottawa over the nature of this performer, and various times he was labelled a "Gangsta" rapper by mainstream media. There were strong forces at play trying to block Nas from performing in Ottawa but he eventually came through as planned. Years before that 50 Cent was blamed in Ottawa, Toronto, and via National media for youth gun violence. Other performers over the years have been successfully blocked from entering Ottawa to perform altogether, citing their violent and intolerant lyrics as reason enough. In any event, Snoop was here and he was holding it down for approximately 30,000 die-hard fans.

Moving on past my constant mind wanderings, I took in everything the concert had to offer. A very solid Rhythm section kept the people moving, the whole band was tight. Daz Dillinger did his job backing Snoop keeping the energy pumping, while Supa Fly rapped, sang backups and twinkled on the keys for the 75 minute set. Snoop was fairly energized and seemed quite impressed with what the capital city had to offer: good weed, an energetic crowd and a few impressive sets of "titties" unleashed from their tube tops at his request. However, his set seemed to hang on to the call and response of the now iconic performer's name. At various occasions throughout the performance, Snoop demanded the crowd tell him who he was. Although a common component of many rap shows, this was the only real downside to the performance. From my sober, 1 beer consuming, non chronic blazing perspective, it seemed like the Top Dogg was trying too hard to convince himself and the crowd of his magnificence. Without a doubt, Snoop is a hip-hop legend, but beyond his “Who Am I? (What’s My Name)” ’93 classic, the name calling should have been kept to a minimum.

“Then I step through the fog and I creep through the smog/Cause I'm snoop doggy (who?) doggy (what?) doggy [dogg]” – Who Am I? (What’s My Name)

As the sun began to go down, more and more adolescents were dragged to the sidelines from either smoke inhalation, heat exhaustion or a combination of the both. Snoop closed out his set with the aforementioned Top 10 hit "What’s My Name", to the obvious delight of the crowd. Snoop was a fairly gracious performer, thanking the nation's capital for letting him party with us, and sending a special shout out to all the "homies" outside the festival gates listening, and watching as they had torn down the posters secured to the exterior fence. He was sure to close out his performance with a coom-bye-ya-ish peace and love chant, telling us "all you need is a little bit of peace and a little bit of love and a lot of Snoop Dogg". I am not sure if his closing remarks can be directly attributed to the relative calmness of the crowd vacating the field, or if everyone was smoked into submission – or if they were just occupied looking for cheesey poofs and tandoori flavoured corn chips, but the event seemed to pass in a very peaceful manner.

Snoop Dogg has come a long way since his appearance in the "Nuttin' But A G Thang" video where he was too scared to even look at the camera. His empire stretches from Long Beach, to Hollywood, to Lebreton Flats in the heart of Ottawa. He is anything but shy these days and has moved on from doing it Doggy Style to Sensual Seduction. Some things have changed and most not. Snoop is still the world’s weed smoking poster boy, and can still please a crowd. I just wonder if the police will try to stop him from coming next time or will they line up for autographs with the rest of Ottawa? All in all, when people ask what I thought of the Snoop show, I reply "it was off the hizzle, fo shizzle". Peace, Love, and lots of Snoop Dogg.

  

Hold It Down Media Hold It Down Media is a video hip-hop entertainment magazine showcasing Canadian talent broadcasting online via HipHopCanada.com Canada’s premiere online source for hip-hop entertainment and information. Hold It Down Media combines interviews, opinion polls, live performance and music video clips to form a well rounded short format (10 -25 minute) entertaining television style program.