Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr., known famously as “Snoop Dogg,” surprised his fans when he pivoted from rap and released a 32 track Gospel album a few months back.

His gospel album, Bible of Love, hit stores March 16, surprising just about everyone. Christians have both applauded his work, while others have denounced it, pointing to his checkered history and apparent lack of repentance for any of it.

Snoop Dogg debuted his album at the 2018 Stellar Awards where he performed, “Words Are Few.”

He performed a solo before B-Slade, the song’s guest artist, appeared by his side.

When he was interviewed after the show, he was asked what he thought about criticisms coming from Christians.

“The devil is a liar. I thought church was supposed to welcome sinners,” he told TV One. “If you find someone trying to find their way back home, the natural thing would be to accept him with open arms. We not gonna throw stones while you trying to get right and walking back into the church house.”

He continued his interview by asking others to just show love to people who are running away from the church.

“That’s what’s running people away from church right now as we speak: We’re trying to get people back in church with a different perspective of come as you are, show love. We show love, we give love,” Snoop added. “What about you? Have you checked your status? Are you going to Heaven? Why are you judging me? How much have you done for the Lord?”

Snoop Dogg has been in the music industry, and some might say, spotlight, for the past twenty years. He has produced 16 albums and remains extremely popular even amongst the younger crowd.

One of the reasons some Christians warn against his Christian album is because of his rocky past. He was notorious for his involvement in the drug scene and was constantly caught up in a scandal.

When he first entered the music scene, Snoop often had trouble with the law for selling drugs like cocaine. He also was part of a trial in 1993, for the murder of a rival gang member. Snoop allegedly drove the getaway car but was acquitted.

In 2004, he faced charges when two girls on the set of Girls Gone Wild, accused Snoop of bribing them to take off their clothes. They accused him of offering ecstasy and marijuana in exchange, in which he settled the lawsuit.

In 2013, he also had an alarmingly open interview with Rolling Stone, in which he bragged about his past escapades of being a former pimp. He bragged about the time he had sex with young women and casually prostituted them out – all while he had a wife and kids at home.

He also worked with Hustler, an adult movie company, to produce two hard-core porn films. He won four porn industry awards as a result.

“And I did. I won four AVN [Adult Video News] awards, sold the most DVDs ever in porno, brought a new style of shooting, brought music to the porno world… I changed the whole game and they thankful for me,” Snoop said.

He added that once again, despite having a wife and kids at the time, it didn’t stop him from producing the films.

“They want me to do more, but I’m like, ‘I’m cool, that was a phase for me and I don’t wanna do it no more’. I had a wife and kids when I did it, that didn’t stop nothin’. I just didn’t wanna do it no more.”

Christianity is not Snoop Dogg’s first exploration of religion. In 2009, he joined the Nation of Islam. In 2012, he became a Rastafarian and explored their music too. And now, in 2018, he claims to be a born again Christian.

He has been criticized by Christians before, most notably Franklin Graham when in 2017 he remixed the song “Lavender,”, in which he points a gun at a fake Donald Trump in the video. He proceeds to pull the trigger, and you can see a small flag that says, “BANG.”

If you want to give Bible of Love a listen, it has 32 songs to choose from with a variety of collaborations. The album includes many prominent gospel music artists like Kim Burrell, The Clark Sisters, Mali Music, and B Slade.

Snoop explained in an interview that he wanted to make a gospel album because he wanted to give back.

“The moment I came into the music industry, I always had gospel influences and I always referred to my Savior Jesus Christ in most of the records that I spoke on. I always had moments where I would reflect on that and let people know what I was a born again Christian,” he explained.

“It was just time to put my money where my mouth was and have it not be about money but about spirit. Give love to get love,” he told TV One.

You can watch his full interview below.