Biography
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Snoop Dogg is best known as the most famous MC of the
West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of producer
Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. His mother nicknamed
him "Snoopy" as a child, and he took the stage name
Snoop Doggy Dogg when he began recording. He changed his
name to Snoop Dogg in 1996, when he left his original
record label, Death Row Records, and signed with No
Limit Records. Several of his cousins, including RBX,
Nate Dogg, and Daz Dillinger, are also hip hop artists
and often collaborate with Snoop. As a rapper, he is
perhaps best known for his signature “lazy drawl” —a
slurred, distinctively calm, laid-back, and
rhythmically-complex lyrical delivery.
Calvin Broadus was active in music from a young age,
singing in his church choir. Outside of church, Broadus
often found himself in trouble, both in school and with
the law for selling/doing drugs. He later attended Long
Beach Polytechnic High School, where he began
participating in schoolyard freestyle MCing
competitions.
As a member of a local Crips gang in Long Beach, Snoop
Dogg was in and out of jail for the three years after he
graduated from high school. Pushed by older inmates to
make something of himself, he began making homemade rap
tapes with his cousin Nate Dogg, and best friend Warren
G (stepbrother of Dr. Dre of N.W.A.). Originally, Nate's
cousin Lil' 1/2 Dead was also part of the group, called
213, named after the Long Beach area code. This was
largely in homage to Richie Rich's group 415, named for
the (then) area code of Oakland, California. Dr. Dre
began collaborating with the young rapper, first on the
theme song of the film Deep Cover, and then on Dr. Dre's
debut solo album The Chronic with the other members of
his former starting group, Tha Dogg Pound.
Snoop Dogg's contribution to The Chronic was
considerable: the rapper's rhymes were as present as
Dre's. The huge success of Snoop's debut Doggystyle is
largely due to this intense exposure.
While recording his own debut album Doggystyle with Dre
in August of 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in the
shooting death of Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a
rival gang who was later revealed to have had a secret
obsession with Snoop. He was eventually acquitted on
both self defense grounds and because he allegedly drove
the car while his bodyguard McKinley Lee fired the fatal
shots (Lee was also acquitted on self defense grounds).
Snoop remained entangled in the legal battles around the
case for three years.
The Doggystyle album was released in November of 1993 on
Death Row Records, and became the first debut album ever
to enter the charts at number one, helping to fuel the
ascendance of West Coast "G Funk" rap. The singles
"What's My Name" and "Gin and Juice" went to the top
ten, and the album remained in the charts for several
months, even as controversy raged over the murder trial
and his allegedly violent and sexist lyrics. Gangsta rap
became the center of arguments for censorship and
labeling, with Snoop often used as an example of violent
and misogynistic musicians.
A short film about the trial called Murder Was the Case,
and an accompanying soundtrack, were released in 1994.
It is said, to Snoop's distress, that a lot of the hype
surrounding his debut was generated by his
well-publicized trial. Others argue that the Death Row
crew knew that any publicity is good publicity, as this
film was directed by Dr. Dre himself.
However, by the time of Snoop Dogg's second album Tha
Doggfather was released in November of 1996, both the
furor and the popularity of gangsta rap had begun to
fade, dragged down by the death of Snoop's friend Tupac
Shakur and the racketeering indictment of Death Row
co-founder Suge Knight. Dr. Dre had left Death Row
earlier that year, and so Snoop co-produced the album
himself with Daz Dillinger and DJ Pooh. The album sold
two million copies.
Snoop Dogg has since drawn back a bit from hardcore
gangsta rap, performing with the alternative rock
Lollapalooza tour in 1997, and making several film
appearances, in addition to producing and directing
music videos for himself and other artists. He released
an autobiography in 2001. During this period he also
released two albums on Master P's No Limit label,
including Da Game Is to Be Sold Not to Be Told and No
Limit Top Dogg. His last album on No Limit was 2000's
Tha Last Meal. It featured a more laid-back style with a
heavier emphasis on his 'pimp' lifestyle as opposed to
his gangbanging lyrics on previous albums.
Snoop produced a pornographic film called Snoop Dogg's
Doggystyle with Hustler magazine in 2001, where he
combines hip hop music with x-rated material. From then
on, many films of the genre followed, and finally ended
up with founding the Snoopadelic Films company in 2005,
Snoop's own movie production company debuting with
Boss'n Up, a film inspired by R&G starring Lil Jon and
Trina.
In 2002, he announced that he was giving up drinking and
drugs. Later that year he released the album Paid tha
Cost to Be da Bo$$, which featured the hit singles and
videos "From Da Chuuuch to Da Palace" and "Beautiful,"
featuring guest vocals by the Neptunes' Pharrell
Williams.
On May 21, 2004, Snoop Dogg filed for divorce from his
wife Shante Broadus, citing irreconcilable differences
and seeking joint custody of their three children, Corde,
Cordell, and Cori. They have since reconciled. Later
that year, he collaborated again with his old friends
Nate Dogg and Warren G, as part of the rap group 213
(who had previously released an album about a decade
before), and they released a new album called The Hard
Way, which featured the single "Groupie Luv", and
reached #4 in the US Billboard 200 album charts.
In 2004, Snoop signed to the Star Trak record label,
headed by the Neptunes, who produced several tracks for
his 2004 release R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta) The Masterpiece.
"Drop It Like It's Hot" (featuring Pharrell), the first
single released from the album, was a hit and became his
first single to reach number one. His third release was
"Signs", featuring Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson,
which did not do as well.
Snoop Dogg recently announced to British Radio that his
next album, The Blue Carpet Treatment, will feature
production by long-time partner Dr. Dre, dispelling
rumors of a rift between the two in recent times. In
addition, Snoop will be featured on Dre's proclaimed
(and much delayed) masterpiece Detox.
Snoop Dogg is participating in a charity single written
and produced by Michael Jackson. His part has reportedly
already been recorded. The single to be titled "I Have
This Dream", and released in mid-late February 2006.
Trivia
- Snoop Dogg is famous for using slang invented by
Frankie Smith and The Gap Band in the early
eighties, and popularized in part by fellow rapper
E-40,[4] much of which is simply derived by adding
an "izz" or "-izzle" sound to the word. Some
examples:
"Fo' Shizzle" = for sure, the real thing
"Nizzle" = nigga, perhaps an attempt at making it more palatable by altering it
"Mr. Swayne Dizzle" = Himself (His parody character of Sway (reporter on MTV) appeared in Doggy Fizzle Televizzle)
"Death Rizzow" = Death Row ("Gz And Hustlas" off "Doggystyle")
"Nate Dizzle" = Nate Dogg ("Ditty Dum Ditty Doo" off Nate Dogg's "Music And Me") - A large number of Snoop Dogg's songs mention "the LBC." This is a reference to the city of Long Beach, California. He and a group of associates from Long Beach's East Side formed the group Tha Eastsidaz, releasing both an album and a direct-to-video film under the name in 2000.
- Snoop is a former member of the Rollin' 20 Crips gang in Long Beach, though he still has affiliations with the group. Goldie Loc of Tha Eastsidaz is also a former member of this gang, as are Warren G and Nate Dogg.
- Snoop Dogg has his own show on XM Satellite Radio called "Welcome to Da Chuuch with Big Snoop Dogg." On December 8, 2005, he was named Executive Producer for XM's classic hip-hop channel, The Rhyme, and will provide the creative direction for the channel and assist in the development of new exclusive programming for The Rhyme as well as other channels. Also in that month, Snoop appeared in a comical TV commercial for XM with fellow XM celebrity DJ's Ellen DeGeneres and David Bowie which finds the rapper attempting to find one of his misplaced vanity necklaces; the punchline of the commercial reveals that Bowie had been wearing the jewelry, unbeknownst to Snoop.
- Snoop Dogg is the most "well-connected" rapper of all time based on a study of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This is counted from the album sales and the collaborations made so far. He collaborated with Pharrell Williams, Ludacris, Chingy, Charlie Wilson, Nelly, 50 Cent, Lil Jon, Trina, Lloyd Banks, Warren G, Nate Dogg, Soopafly, Master P, Dr. Dre, Justin Timberlake, Eminem and others.