Dressed in a Jazzy green sherwani, the West Coast rapper, Snoop Dogg aka Snoop Lion was received by a huge crowd at the leisure Valley Grounds in Gurgaon on Sunday. The concert also hosted DJ’s like Whosane and Lil’B and at sundown the stage was set by Reggae Raja, Delhi Sultanate and Begum X who made way for Snoop Dogg.
Fans did not just attend the concert for Snoop’s music but majorly craved for a glimpse of the icon, for his sheer presence in the NCR seemed enough to make one groove to the booming base line.
“That’s the sign I was waiting for,” said Snoop as he throws a lit joint off the stage. The ‘Bling’ doesn’t end with his sherwani, even the microphone that he carries, is custom made with Swarovski embellishments that re-emphasize his star like demeanour.
NCR has increasingly hosted major international artists over the past two years, but this was its first rap concert and was received with palpable enthusiasm. “I have heard the more popular tracks by Snoop Dogg, which play repeatedly in clubs and bars but I have never heard the entire discography” says Tarun, a Delhite who travelled from Karol Bagh to attend the event.
This gig was Snoop’s last performance, as a part of his tour in India, for which he also performed in Pune on the 11 January. The Platinum award winning rapper did not fail to connect with the Indian audience as he played songs like PIMP, Drop it like it’s hot, and of course the Singh is King title track that set the audience roaring. He also sang a tribute for the Hip-Hop sensation Tupac who was shot to death in 1996. Unfortunately the crowd did not react to this reference and perhaps knew little about the Westside roots that his lyrics were based on.
The performance did not do justice to the hype around the artist as Snoop decided to play songs like Dum Maro Dum and Tu Mera Hero from Desi Boyz for the crowd to sing along, and in turn this simply dipped the momentum.
“I really feel that he is lip syncing most of the songs, plus all the songs that he has performed here are the ones that feature other big names like Pharell, Wiz Khalifa, Dr Drey and others, because of which it feels like we were simply grooving to good music being played on a massive sound system” said Kanav, a Delhite who has been following Snoop’s songs ever since he was in the 9th grade.