The Year of Snoop Dogg

A couple of weeks ago, The Voice—you know, the prime-time reality singing competition, the showcase that gave us good ol’ Morgan Wallen—returned for its 26th season on NBC. I don’t follow the show, and I might not have otherwise cared to watch a second of this latest season if not for the conspicuous inclusion of Snoop Dogg, who recently joined The Voice as a coach alongside Michael Bublé, Gwen Stefani, and Reba McEntire. This isn’t the rapper’s first turn in this format; Snoop previously served as a “Mega Mentor” in Season 20 of The Voice and as a cohost, with Kelly Clarkson, of NBC’s American Song Contest, a short-lived clone of Eurovision. He’s trained for the role, certainly. Still, Snoop is a rapper, and while he isn’t the first rapper to serve as a coach on The Voice, he’s an odd choice, compared to the other coaches, to mentor a bunch of singers, no?