"Don't Make Russell Angry, You Wouldn't Like Him When He's Angry..."

Earlier this week I reported on the best new commercial I've seen in months, starring Snoop Dogg. Well, it looks like Snoop is also making headlines this week in Australia, for not so good reasons; well depending on how you look at it.

Snoop is scheduled to tour the continent this October with fellow Los Angeles native Ice Cube, but Snoop hit a snag when the Aussie government denied his international visa to enter the country. Their reasoning behind this is pointed to people in the country allegedly being concerned about the legal troubles in Snoop's past. Now it seems Snoop has turned to a famous friend of his who is a native of Australia: Russell Crowe. Yes, that Russell Crowe. The only connection between the two is that they both had roles alongside Denzel Washington, Snoop in "Training Day," Russell in "American Gangster. Other than that, I have no explanation for how these two very different artists could have hooked up.

Russell has more pull than Nicole Kidman and Crocodile Dundee in his homeland, so he took it upon himself to write a lengthy letter to his native government displaying Snoop's community work, previous tours in the country that went without incident, and their friendship of 3 years. He went on to say, "Snoop has built a stellar reputation with promoters and audiences worldwide."
With that, the Australian government is now reconsidering reversing their decision and may require Snoop to go through some sort of counseling on how to conduct himself while in the country. Looks like the Gladiator himself has plenty of pull in his homeland; that or he's thrown plenty more phones on many occasions at people there than he has here. Or, perhaps Russell pulled the old, "Look, I beat a guy over the head with a phone over in the states, so the least you could do is let Snoop D-O-double Geezy in, mate" line. Just a token (no pun intended) to the kind of stand up guys they both are to have each other's backs regardless the international boundaries between them.

To read more about the story, and Russell's further articulation regarding Snoops charitable community work, you can take a look at the article that's been following this story over at allhiphop.com.

Rolling Stone and Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph also had news of the story, so this is definitely not a fabrication.

http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2008/09/10/20488640.aspx

Here is the Telegraph's coverage of the story:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24324782-5001021,00.html

Click here to read the actual letter directly from the Gladiator:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/image/rc-snoop-letter.jpg

"The Funniest Commercial of 2008"

It's no secret I'm a fan of Snoop Dogg and all of his hilariousness both in and out of the music world. As a performer and a genuine pop culture character, he is unique and always entertaining, be it on the latest hip hop chart topper, or simply popping up randomly on TV or in film. His latest foray into multimedia has him promoting the new X Box 360 game "Facebreaker," which sounds a bit too aggressive to be one of Snoop a Loop's chart topping hits of recent years.
Having become a character unto himself, a modern day Andy Kaufman if you will, Snoop's commercial has to be one of the best 30 seconds of advertising I've seen all year, and probably better than most Super Bowl commercials of recent memory which likely had production value in the stratosphere next to this simple concept. I'm always a fan of someone who can give others the joy of laughter while putting across the notion that the image they put out there is genuine; Snoop Dogg is one of these rare individuals, so whether a fan or not, he has my respect as a unique, honest, funny, and entertaining person.

Whenever he randomly pops up in films, it is always welcomed, and usually hilarious. His turns in "Starsky and Hutch," "Training Day," "The Wash," "Half Baked," and "Old School," be it a cameo or if he is front and center, Snoop brings his persona to every role he plays. You could say he's one of those performers that, no matter what the role, will always be known to the audience in their original incarnation. The same can't be said for such performers as Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, or Johnny Depp. Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell, they have it to a certain extent, but what Snoop Dogg has that he puts out there for the public's entertainment, is unmatched.

Feast your eyes on this commercial and prepare for some side-splitting laughter that will leave you "looking different," as the man himself proclaims.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsH4NsXosY8