Watch Snoop Lion's New Video for 'Lighters Up' Now

About a year ago, we followed Snoop Dogg to Jamaica to make a film about him recording a new reggae album, immersing himself in Rastafarian culture and changing his name to Snoop Lion. While we were making Reincarnated, we also filmed a few videos to go with the songs in the album, one of which was "Lighters Up." You can see it in the player above.

The video was shot around Port Antonio and the idea was to make it an homage to the big-budget, over-the-top rap videos of the 1990s, using a jib camera and a dolly. The only difference being that instead of using a strip club or a convoy of lowriders as a backdrop, we used crashing waves, rocks, a jungle, and beach fires.

We also recruited a lot of people we met while making the film to appear in the video: bussing in the Tivoli Gardens Marching Band and coaxing along some local Port Antonio rastas. On the final day, Mavado (the guy who stood to Snoop's right on the beach) showed up eight hours late and with a crew of about 20 people, most of whom were associated with the Gully gang. This was a bit nerve-wracking because Popcaan (the guy on Snoop's left on the beach) is associated with the rival Gaza gang, and he was rolling with his boys too.

Snoop held a peace conference of sorts on the beach, and they all agreed to chill out for the video and show the world that the conflict between the two sides had now been resolved. Jamaican TV even turned up and interviewed everybody about it. It was a wild scene.

LIGHTERS UP
Director: Andy Capper
DP: Nick Neofitidis
Editor: Matthew Caron
Producer: Codine Williams
Executive Producers: Suroosh Alvi, Ted Chung

Reincarnated is out on March 22. You can watch the trailer here.

All photographs by Willie Toledo.