Snoop Dogg Pimps It Up For Bangkok

Hip-hop fans had a real treat when infamous rapper Snoop Dogg performed on Saturday in the second Together Festival at Bitec in Bang Na, along with many local and other foreign acts.

Energetic and engaging, Snoop managed to please old “dogg people” and successfully converted new fans thanks to his low-key rapping style, unique showmanship and eclectic repertoire, with a big help from the great lighting and sound systems.

The second Together Festival proved to be even bigger and better, with more sensational acts. This year promoters AG Productions and Retox Sessions filled the line-up with sensational acts like local stars CMYK, Bangkok Invaders, Southside and Thaitanium, as well as the internationally famed AN21, Max Vangeli, Quintino and French electro duo Justice. 

Though all the acts were crowd-magnets in their own right, the audience was most excited to see Snoop in the flesh. After Thaitanium and Southside warmed up the party with series of old- and new-school hip-hop, Snoop Dogg announced his arrival with a montage of clips from movies he’s appeared in and opened the show at 9.30pm – with a dead microphone. 

After inaudible vocals throughout an entire song, Snoop threw away the mike, got a sparkling new one and demanded that the DJ give him “some mother f**king pimp music”. He launched into a string of hits – “Stoner’s Anthem”, “Sweat”, “Sensual Seduction”, “Let’s Get Blown”, “I Wanna Love You” (explicit version, it seemed), “Smoke Weed Every Day”, “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and “California Gurls”. 

He also offered a tribute medley for his friend and fellow rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996. 

Thailand’s most famous hip-hop group, Thaitanium, was invited back onstage to perform their breakthrough hit “Yak Lai”, with Snoop Dogg standing at the corner of the stage bobbing his head, simply mumbling “yeah, yeah” on the mike.

The production was one of the best Bangkok has ever seen. The lighting was visually stimulating and in sync with the music and the sound system was exceptionally good.

Snoop Dogg is often seen with skimpily dressed girls or thick, white clouds of marijuana smoke hovering around. Bangkok was no exception. At one point he pulled out a spliff and asked the crowd if he should “smoke this shit”. And he did, to a huge cheer from the crowd. With that, he ended the 90-minute show with “Young, Wild and Free”, with no encore. 

Snoop is probably not the best rapper or dancer, but the 41-year-old is one decent entertainer, despite the f-word in every sentence, and good fun to watch. His scrawny frame became a big presence onstage, filled with a balanced combination of arrogance, sleaziness and unique, quirky charm. His calming rapping style also made the show more multidimensional and better balanced, especially when he performed alongside typical rappers that made your ears ring with their, piercing violent vocals.

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