As many of you will by now be aware, Snoop Dogg recently announced that he’s “had enough” of rap, and will henceforth be known as Snoop Lion.

The announcement comes after Snoop spent time in Jamaica recording a reggae album, Reincarnation, with help from Diplo’s production unit Major Lazer. It seems the rapper had some kind of spiritual epiphany during his stay, and has since renounced his evil ways and converted to Rastafarianism.

Rastafarian writer and poet Benjamin Zephaniah has now weighed in on the whole affair over at The Guardian. He is welcoming of Snoop’s conversion, describing Rastas as “one of the most misunderstood groups of people in the world” and sorely in need of a high profile ambassador.

However, he describes the rapper as a “misunderstander”, who “believes that to be a Rastafarian you have to make, or listen, to reggae music… that you have to wear red, gold and green hats… [and] that you have to smoke marijuana, all stereotypes that on the whole have done us no favours.”

Ultimately, he says, Snoop ought to stop preaching to the converted and go back to hip hop, where he can really make a difference. “Rastas don’t really need to hear more messages about Rastas”, Zephaniah argues. “Snoop should take his message to the gunslingers and the gangbangers. He should go forth, drop philosophy over some phat beats, and preach to the unconverted.”

You can stream Snoop Lion’s first reggae single, ‘La La La’, below.