Snoop Dogg Covers House of Pain at Osheaga

In the fifteen years since his gangsta-rap debut, Snoop Dogg has become more of a celebrity than a musician. The iconic, laid-back rapper easily stirred the audience at Montreal's Osheaga festival, but spent more time playing hype man over his own beats than actually rapping.

The audience happily indulged Snoop's requests to yell "hell yeah" over 'P.I.M.P' and "bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay" over 'Drop It Like It's Hot.' It's not hard to see why people responded so positively -- Snoop can work a crowd like few others -- but his band could have been playing anything and it would have had the same result.

As if to prove the point, Snoop's surprise cover of House of Pain's classic 'Jump Around' incited the closest thing to a mosh pit likely to erupt during a West Coast hip-hop set.

Singing into a diamond-crusted "Snoop Dogg" microphone while two stone-faced security guards stood in full suits at the sides of the stage, the rapper was happy to act the lovable cartoon character, but it was more satisfying to see him reach into his back catalogue for a medley of 90's hits like '187 On An Undercover Cop,' 'Gin & Juice,' and 'What's My Name?'

As fun as it is to wave your hands up in the air like you just don't care, sometimes you'd rather see a rapper, y'know, rap.