Famous rapper, blunt-enthusiast, all-around major chiller (and painter), Snoop Dogg has collaborated with Swedish sock company, Happy Socks, for their newest ad campaign: a three-and-a-half minute short film, The Art of Inspiration, construed by the musician’s creative team, Cashmere Agency.
The film opens up to an 80s like synth-pop track with three blank canvases against a stark white backdrop, Snoop, sitting on a chair he makes his throne, narrates why painting has become a way to express his persona people don’t usually see. Cut to a shot of three scantily clad (but sock-trotting) studio assistants; they help him prepare what he needs to paint: old-school music, spray-paint, tennis balls, paint-guns, and of course, his trusty blunt. Both, playful and serious, Snoop convinces us he is an artist.
While his technique clearly echoes the movement of Abstract Expressionism, Snoop’s paintings are realizations from his lived experiences. In his idiosyncratic soothing-cool voice, Snoop reveals to us, “sometimes the music in my life don’t explain exactly what I’m going through, so [painting] would give a better depiction of who I am and what I’m going through. He goes on to say, “painting gives to me an emotion like no other… I have no parameters…It’s another piece of a puzzle, it’s a piece of Snoop we can take with us forever.”
For those who wish to have a piece of the Snoop puzzle, his paintings will be available to purchase. But those more inclined to an affordable part of him, Happy Socks will release a limited edition box set of socks that highlight different sides of the rapper: Painter Snoop, Rastafarian Snoop, and “Gin and Juice” Snoop.
h/t Dazed