Snoop Dogg Responds To Roland Martin In War Over Whether To Watch ‘Roots’ Reboot Or Not
Snoop Dogg isn’t one to back down. After the rapper released a tirade against the new Roots reboot on The History Channel, Roland Martin had a few choice words for Snoop. Now it looks like Snoop Dogg has a new unlikely rival in Martin, because the two are still debating (to put it nicely) why or why not we should all watch the updated version of Roots.
Snoop told his fans days ago that he is not watching the new version of Roots, an iconic story of the life of Kunta Kinte, who was brought over from Africa as a slave. The historic miniseries told the story of his life and that of the generations of Kunta Kinte’s family and originally starred Lavar Burton. The newest version, made by The History Channel, stars rapper T.I., who also can’t be happy that Snoop Dogg has fervently told his fans to avoid the slavery flick, as he lamented about how no one is making movies about the positive things that Black Americans are currently accomplishing, according to The Root.
.@SnoopDogg calls for boycott of new ‘Roots’ remake https://t.co/UOOqnrDlfm pic.twitter.com/oENC2Uhvpt
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) May 31, 2016
In his initial rant, Snoop Dogg said, “How the f**k they gonna put Roots on Memorial Day? They gonna just keep beating that s**t in our heads of how they did us, huh?” The rapper continued, “I don’t understand America. They just want to keep showing the abuse that we took hundreds and hundreds of years ago. But, guess what? We taking the same abuse.”
Watch: Roland Martin goes all the way off about Snoop Dogg’s boycott of ‘Roots’ https://t.co/OdWZwDT76B pic.twitter.com/HW2AzcVNER
— The Root (@TheRoot) June 2, 2016
“When you all going to make a motherf***ing series about the success black folks is having? The only success we have is Roots and 12 Years a Slave and s**t like that, huh? F**k y’all. I ain’t watching that s**t,” Snoop continued. “F**k them television shows. Let’s create our own s**t based on today, how we live, and how we inspire people today.”
Roland Martin, a TV One commentator, didn’t take kindly to Snoop Dogg’s suggestion that anyone should skip the Roots reboot. Instead, Martin lashed out at the iconic rapper about the lack of movies to remind Americans of their embarrassing slavery roots and then challenged him to make the kind of television that he wants to see, rather than urging others to miss out on the social impact that movies like Roots can have.
“Maybe if Snoop actually watched Roots, he’ll realize Kunta Kinte wasn’t the n-word?” Martin stated. “You will never find someone Jewish saying there’s way too many Holocaust films.”
Roland Martin didn’t stop there. Instead, he threw a little shade at Snoop Dogg and challenged the rapper to make better films himself.
“Slavery happened. Slavery is real. Black folks are survivors since the first slaves touched down in Jamestown, Virginia,” Martin said. “The best success story he’s done is Soul Plane. You have the potential to change the game.”
Naturally, Snoop Dogg responded to Roland Martin and there is a bit of NSFW language ahead so be forewarned. Check out what Snoop had to say for himself after taking heat for his Roots boycott below.
There seems to be a bit of a debate raging now about whether or not Snoop Dogg got it right. Should we watch the newest version of Roots or should people pass on the reboot and focus on the successes of African-Americans today? Tell us if you think Roland Martin is right or if you’ll pass on The History Channel’s Roots reboot as Snoop Dogg suggested in the comments section below.
[Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]
