Legendary hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg revealed this week his label will release a gospel album titled Altar Call honoring his late mother. "You heard it first. A gospel album," he said, announcing its release date: April 27.

"God is good. Won't He do it?"

The rapper's mother, Beverly Tate, passed away in October 2021 after a period of illness. Snoop Dogg frequently credited her with instilling in him a foundation of faith, strength, and love, often honoring her influence in interviews and on social media. The album's release date falls on her birthday, and her photo appears on the cover.

It will be his second gospel album, following 2018's Bible of Love.

"The spirit of my mother will forever live within me," he told Okayplayer about the new record. "This album is a reflection of what she has taught me -- to use my voice and my platform to spread love and heal the world."

Altar Call, he said, is "another chapter out of the Bible of Love."

The 21-track album will feature such artists as Jamie Foxx, Jazze Pha, Curt Chambers, Laura Wilson Johnson and Jane Handcock.

Snoop Dogg was a leading gangsta rapper in the 1990s but has, in recent years, expressed regret over some of the music in his early days.

In 2018, he opened up about his religious beliefs in an interview with gospel artist Kirk Franklin.

"God ain't done with me," Snoop said.

Franklin asked Snoop what he thought the church could "do better."

"The first thing the church can do better is be … nonjudgmental," Snoop said. "Open your arms. Open them for the worst -- the worst sinner. I don't care what he's been doing. Let him in.

"And then when you lose that," Snoop said, "that's half the battle. Because now you're doing God's work. You're not judging somebody, you're allowing them to come get their spirit right and to repent, and to testify, and to try to find their way and maybe come down to the altar to get born again."

Source