UNDATED (CNN) -- Whether or not you're a fan of his music, the name "Snoop Dogg" is a fun stage name that rolls off your tongue. But now Snoop has changed his name, and gone from the dog to the cat family.
After all these years of dog, suddenly we're faced with lion? Snoop says, "I could never have become Snoop Lion if I was never Snoop Dogg."
But snoop has been reincarnated, which also happens to be the name of a film about his spiritual journey. He went to Jamaica. At a Rastafarian temple, a high priest suggested he's a lion, not a dog. And now Snoop says, "I want to bury Snoop Dogg and become Snoop Lion."
And instead of rap, he's doing reggae. But is the switch to snoop lion permanent? As the website Holy Moly put it, "He better not be lion to us." Snoop says, " Snoop Lion is the elevation of Snoop Dogg."
We haven't had to adjust to such a jarring name change since Puff Daddy switched to P Diddy then diddled with the P. He said, "Enough is enough with the P getting in the way. You know. Just call me Diddy."
Online posters called Snoop the "Artist Formerly Known as Dog" the nickname reportedly came from his mom because he reminded her of snoopy with his long Snoopy-shaped face. True, the name got a bad rap from former senator Alan Simpson. Somehow that insult wouldn't work as well with lion, though snoop still applies.
And there is this downside to the name change. Pity the poor fan stuck with merchandise like the Snoop Dogg floor mat or walking around in pajamas wearing Snoop Dogg slippers.
Some may pretend to shrug off this earthshaking change, but will 'yo' still sound cool if said by Snoop Lion?
In the lion kingdom, the news probably merits something between a yawn and a roar.