Diplo first spoke about Snoop’s reggae album a couple of months ago, and the first song leaked last week, but the full story behind this intriguing project has not been told until now.

Yesterday at Miss Lily’s in New York City, the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg appeared at a jam-packed press conference—along with his manager Ted Chung, producer Diplo, VICE Media co-founder Suroosh Alvi, who produced a film about the project, and Sway Calloway of MTV—to talk about Snoop’s latest album, Reincarnated.

Produced by Major Lazer, this is the first Snoop disc to feature no rapping whatsoever. It’s also the first to be released under the name Snoop Lion. The transformation from big dog to jungle cat is only one of many twists and turns in the story of Reincarnated, which is documented in a film by the same name that's set to debut this fall at the Toronto Film Festival.

Snoop’s name change was not done on a whim. He was actually baptised in a sacred Rastafarian ceremony. For Rastafarians, the Lion is a symbol of the black God incarnate, His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia—also known as the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

READ | El-P Reveals Tracklist, Album Artwork (via @pitchfork/@cbattan)

"This is a fight record. Like, 'Goddamn it. Enough is fuckin' enough.'" That's El-P talking about his forthcoming album Cancer for Cure, out May 22 on Fat Possum. Said fight record now has a cover (above) and a guest-sparkly tracklist featuring Interpol's Paul Banks (who provides backing vocals on "Works Every Time"), Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Danny Brown, Killer Mike, Despot, and Nick Diamonds of Islands.

WATCH | The Best "Theraflu" Review Ever (via @complexmusic)

We've heard a lot of opinions on "Theraflu," but perhaps none that matter as much as this one. This guy has been listening to the song non-stop, and he just had to break down why he thinks it's so great. He really loves this new Kanye West song, and he can't hold back the enthusiasm while he's explaining why. He gets so excited he doesn't even care when he knocks the antenna off his TV.

LISTEN | Fuzzy Jones gets his G.O.O.D Music Debut (via @boomshots)