The rapper - rebranding himself as Snoop Lion for the project - wanted to make a more "adult" record, and called on Diplo after being impressed with his work.
Speaking at the launch of Red Bull Culture Clash, Diplo told BANG Showbiz: "He hit me up, I was like the only person he knew that knew anything about reggae, and so we just met a couple of times and it became a really good idea to do this.
"We worked before on his last album, and he said, he wanted to do something that's a bit more adult."
Diplo said Snoop got excited after he played him a song by his dancehall project Major Lazer, which convinced him to adopt a reggae sound.
He added: "We played him 'Get Free' which, at the time, we had just finished, and he loved the way it sounded and wanted to do something like that. We were both on that proper reggae vibe, and we just went down it."
The producer eventually went to Jamaica with Snoop to finish recording the album, to make it as authentic as possible.
He said: "We went to Jamaica to track the vocals, and we needed instruments that we couldn't do that well in America. "When we work on a record that is that big we do a lot of pre-production, we're getting ready to go to Jamaica and make every second of being there count."
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