LOS ANGELES, May 21 (UPI) — The newly released music video for Snoop Dogg’s “California Roll” features two superstars, golden pyramids and a gleaming journey to the future.
Pharrell and music legend Stevie Wonder thrive in a futuristic, Egyptian-esque Los Angeles while Snoop cruises in a flying convertible. But these artists aren’t just in the future, they are in the future from the perspective of the 1940s, where actress Nia Long plays a regular moviegoer turned time traveler.
In the art-deco inspired video, directed by Warren Fu, an unsuspecting mid-20th century theater audience undertakes a wild ride as the room shifts into a motion simulator, turning and dropping them as they watch surreal images of a Hollywood they couldn’t imagine.
“Baby you could be a movie star, hey,” Pharrell croons in the chorus as Wonder backs him up with “in Los Angeles.” Shots of the “Isn’t she lovely” singer and Pharrell trade-off throughout the chorus, fading in and out to the smooth pulse of the song.
Wonder more prominently offers musical stylings via harmonica and piano, as well as a cameo of him riding shotgun in Snoop’s flying mobile.
Director Fu told Noisey that the video’s visual and conceptual juxtapositions came from the minds of Snoop and Pharrell. “My initial concept was a spin on Star Tours. It was Pharrell’s idea to make the LA futuristic-Egyptian hybrid, and Snoop’s idea to make the actual ride take place in the 40s — which then takes them on a journey into the future.”
“After the phone call my team was like: ‘Oooookay. How the hell are we gonna do all this?” he said.
But behold, the video released by Columbia Records Wednesday incorporated all three ideas into a mind-bending fantasy ride that challenges the audience’s sense of time and space. Snoop Dogg’s newest LP Bush came out earlier this month and is currently the 35th most popular album on iTunes’ top 100 list.
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