Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. (born October 20, 1971, in Long Beach, California), better known as Snoop Dogg (or earlier in his career as Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer and occasional actor. Snoop is best known as an MC in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of producer Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. His catch phrase is widely known as "Fo' shizzle, ma nizzle", meaning, "Fo' sho', ma nigga", which is a slang invented by Frankie Smith and The Gap Band in the early eighties, and popularized in part by fellow rapper E-40,[1] much of which is simply derived by adding an "izz" or "-izzle" sound to the word.
His mother nicknamed him "Snoopy" as a child because he would watch Charlie Brown cartoons often, 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 also became hip hop artists and Aftermath collaborators, including RBX, Nate Dogg, Daz Dillinger, and Joe Cool. R&B singers Ray J and Brandy are also his cousins and he recently released "Smokin trees" with Ray J and a duet with Brandy was pre-recorded for Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, but wasn't part of the album.[1]
According to Soundscan he has sold over 17.6 million albums in the US from the establishment of Soundscan (1991) to January 2006. According to Billboard he has sold 12 million certified units in the U.S. (only counting Gold and Platinum albums).
Snoop attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School,[2], and his initial foray into public life was as a result of his conviction for cocaine trafficking (albeit on a relatively small scale). Snoop was a member of a local Crips gang in Long Beach, the Rollin' 20 Crips. Snoop Dogg's conviction caused him to be in and out of prison for the first three years after he graduated from high school. Older Crips members and prison inmates affiliated with the Crips gang had a long-standing pattern of recognizing talent (particularly musical or sports talent) among their membership, and pursuant to that pseudo-policy, Snoop Dogg was pushed to make something of himself as a rapper rather than as a street hustler. Snoop thus followed up on the homemade rap tapes that he had made 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 at the time. This was largely in homage to Richie Rich's group 415, which was named for the (then) area code of Oakland, California.
Success with Death Row Records
Dr. Dre began collaborating with the young rapper, first on the theme song of the feature 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 was probably due to this intense exposure.
While recording Doggystyle with Dr. Dre in August 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in the death of Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang who was fired at and killed in a gang fight. Snoop was defended by David Kenner, with his bodyguard McKinley Lee, while Sean Abrams (accompanying member in the jeep) was defended by Johnnie Cochran.[2] Both Snoop and Lee were acquitted; Lee was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but Snoop remained entangled in the legal battles around the case for three years. His video "Two of America's Most Wanted" with Tupac Shakur chronicled the difficulties each rapper was dealing with as a result of their unrelated but concurrent criminal prosecutions.
The Doggystyle album was released in November 1993 on Death Row Records and became the first debut album ever to enter the charts at #1, helping to fuel the ascendance of West Coast "G-funk" rap. The singles "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" and "Gin and Juice" reached the top ten most-played songs in the United States, and the album stayed on the Billboard charts for several months. Gangsta rap became the center of arguments for censorship and labeling, with Snoop often used as an example of violent and misogynistic musicians.
Doggystyle, much like The Chronic, featured a host of rappers signed to or affiliated with the Death Row label including Daz, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and others. Many fans consider Doggystyle to be Snoop's finest album and it is usually given the same praise as that given to other Death Row albums such as 2Pac's All Eyez On Me, Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Tha Dogg Pound's Dogg Food.
A short film about Snoop's murder trial called Murder Was the Case, was released in 1994, along with an accompanying soundtrack.
However, by the time Snoop's second album Tha Doggfather was released in November 1996, the price of imitating (or sometimes just living) the "gangsta" life had become very evident: among the many notable rap industry deaths and convictions were the death of Snoop's friend and labelmate Tupac Shakur and the racketeering indictment of Death Row co-founder Suge Knight. Dr. Dre had left Death Row earlier in 1996 due to a contract dispute, so Snoop co-produced Tha Doggfather with Daz Dillinger and DJ Pooh.
This album saw a distinct change of style as compared to Doggystyle. While the album sold reasonably well it was not as successful, and it was widely believed that its quality suffered from Dr.Dre's lack of involvement. However,Tha Doggfather had a somewhat softer approach to the G-funk style, and Snoop Dogg used a less energetic and more charismatic type of rhyming style, which would be more widely incorporated and exercised later on in his career.
In the immediate aftermath of Dre's withdrawal from Death Row records, realizing that he was subject to an iron clad time-based contract (i.e., that Death Row practically owned anything he produced for a number of years), Snoop Dogg refused to produce any more tracks for Suge Knight, other than the insulting "Fuck Death Row," until his contract expired.
Recent years
Snoop Dogg's artistic style has veered away from hardcore gangsta rap; he performed on the alternative rock Lollapalooza tour in 1997, and made several film appearances, in addition to producing and directing music videos both for himself and other artists. He released an autobiography in 2001.
Upon leaving Death Row Records, Snoop was approached by a number of record labels. He eventually signed a contract with Master P's No Limit Records. No Limit was quite popular at the time, as Southern Hip Hop was going through a revival and beginning to dominate the charts in a way which had not been seen since Florida rap dominated the charts in the early 1990s, thanks to 2 Live Crew and Luke. Snoop shortened his name from Snoop Doggy Dogg to Snoop Dogg, and received a great deal of criticism for signing to the label.
Da Game Is to Be Sold Not to Be Told was the first album Snoop released at No Limit. It received negative reviews, yet still sold well. Snoop put his stamp of the now ubiquitous "Dirty South" sound on this album. Similar to the group focus of Death Row Records, many other No Limit Records artists appeared on the album, and it was produced mostly in-house by Beats By The Pound. Snoop's next effort, No Limit Top Dogg would re-unite snoop with his mentor Dr. Dre for some highlight tracks and see a return to the G-funk style of his Death Row days; it proved to be a success in both ratings and sales, as the album embraced both old and new styles of West Coast hip hop along with assorted guests from the No Limit roster. Snoop Dogg followed this up with his last album on No Limit Records titled Tha Last Meal, which built upon the mixture of styles on No Limit Top Dogg.
In 2000, Snoop (as "Michael J. Corleone") directed Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, a pornographic film produced by Hustler. This film, combining hip-hop with X-rated material, was a huge success and won "Top Selling Release of the Year" at the 2002 AVN Awards. [3] Driven by this success, Snoop directed Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp in 2002 (this time using the nickname "Snoop Scorsese").
Snoop founded his own production company, Snoopadelic Films, in 2005. Their debut film was Boss'n Up, a film inspired by R&G starring Lil Jon and Trina. [4]
In 2002, Snoop announced that he was giving up drinking and drugs. Later that year he released the album Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$, on Capitol Records which featured the hit singles and videos "From Da Chuuuch to Da Palace" and "Beautiful," featuring guest vocals by 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 213. They released an album The Hard Way, which featured the single "Groupie Luv", and reached #4 in the U.S. Billboard 200 album charts.
In 2004, Snoop signed to Geffen Records/Star Trak Entertainment both of which are distributed through Interscope Records; Star Trak was headed by the Neptunes, who produced several tracks for Snoop's 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 Snoop Dogg's first single to reach number one. His third release was "Signs", featuring Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson, which entered the UK chart at #2. This was his highest entry ever in the UK chart.
He also notably played the drug dealer-turned-informant character of Huggy Bear, in the 2004 remake film of the 70's TV-series of the same name, Starsky & Hutch.
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) album Detox.
Snoop Dogg appeared in the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park.
As of June 2006, Snoop is doing an advertisement for Orbit Gum. In this advertisment, the Orbit Girl (Vanessa Branch) comes and cleans up Snoop's dirty mouth.
Snoop Dogg's latest music is being featured on West Coast rap albums such as Laugh Now, Cry Later by Ice Cube and Cali Iz Active by Tha Dogg Pound. He is featured on 2 tracks from Cube's album including the single "Go to Church", and several tracks on Cali Iz Active. Also, his latest song, "Real Talk", was leaked over the Internet in the summer of 2006 and a video was later released on the Internet. "Real Talk" is a dedication to Tookie Williams and a diss to Arnold Schwarzenegger. His two other new songs are "Keep Bouncing" by Too $hort, Snoop Dogg & will.i.am; and "Gangsta Walk" by Coolio & Snoop.
Snoop Dogg's 2006 release, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, did well on its first week, debuting at #5, which has been his highest since 2000's The Last Meal. The album, and the second single "That's That Shit" featuring R. Kelly have been received good critical response so far.
Currently Snoop Dogg is working with producer JT the Bigga Figga on a documentary DVD entitled Mandatory Business, which will feature the likes of Russell Simmons, Spike Lee, Xzibit, Young Buck and 50 Cent. There will also be a soundtrack released for the album.
His mother nicknamed him "Snoopy" as a child because he would watch Charlie Brown cartoons often, 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 also became hip hop artists and Aftermath collaborators, including RBX, Nate Dogg, Daz Dillinger, and Joe Cool. R&B singers Ray J and Brandy are also his cousins and he recently released "Smokin trees" with Ray J and a duet with Brandy was pre-recorded for Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, but wasn't part of the album.[1]
According to Soundscan he has sold over 17.6 million albums in the US from the establishment of Soundscan (1991) to January 2006. According to Billboard he has sold 12 million certified units in the U.S. (only counting Gold and Platinum albums).
Snoop attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School,[2], and his initial foray into public life was as a result of his conviction for cocaine trafficking (albeit on a relatively small scale). Snoop was a member of a local Crips gang in Long Beach, the Rollin' 20 Crips. Snoop Dogg's conviction caused him to be in and out of prison for the first three years after he graduated from high school. Older Crips members and prison inmates affiliated with the Crips gang had a long-standing pattern of recognizing talent (particularly musical or sports talent) among their membership, and pursuant to that pseudo-policy, Snoop Dogg was pushed to make something of himself as a rapper rather than as a street hustler. Snoop thus followed up on the homemade rap tapes that he had made 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 at the time. This was largely in homage to Richie Rich's group 415, which was named for the (then) area code of Oakland, California.
Success with Death Row Records
Dr. Dre began collaborating with the young rapper, first on the theme song of the feature 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 was probably due to this intense exposure.
While recording Doggystyle with Dr. Dre in August 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in the death of Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang who was fired at and killed in a gang fight. Snoop was defended by David Kenner, with his bodyguard McKinley Lee, while Sean Abrams (accompanying member in the jeep) was defended by Johnnie Cochran.[2] Both Snoop and Lee were acquitted; Lee was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but Snoop remained entangled in the legal battles around the case for three years. His video "Two of America's Most Wanted" with Tupac Shakur chronicled the difficulties each rapper was dealing with as a result of their unrelated but concurrent criminal prosecutions.
The Doggystyle album was released in November 1993 on Death Row Records and became the first debut album ever to enter the charts at #1, helping to fuel the ascendance of West Coast "G-funk" rap. The singles "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" and "Gin and Juice" reached the top ten most-played songs in the United States, and the album stayed on the Billboard charts for several months. Gangsta rap became the center of arguments for censorship and labeling, with Snoop often used as an example of violent and misogynistic musicians.
Doggystyle, much like The Chronic, featured a host of rappers signed to or affiliated with the Death Row label including Daz, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and others. Many fans consider Doggystyle to be Snoop's finest album and it is usually given the same praise as that given to other Death Row albums such as 2Pac's All Eyez On Me, Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Tha Dogg Pound's Dogg Food.
A short film about Snoop's murder trial called Murder Was the Case, was released in 1994, along with an accompanying soundtrack.
However, by the time Snoop's second album Tha Doggfather was released in November 1996, the price of imitating (or sometimes just living) the "gangsta" life had become very evident: among the many notable rap industry deaths and convictions were the death of Snoop's friend and labelmate Tupac Shakur and the racketeering indictment of Death Row co-founder Suge Knight. Dr. Dre had left Death Row earlier in 1996 due to a contract dispute, so Snoop co-produced Tha Doggfather with Daz Dillinger and DJ Pooh.
This album saw a distinct change of style as compared to Doggystyle. While the album sold reasonably well it was not as successful, and it was widely believed that its quality suffered from Dr.Dre's lack of involvement. However,Tha Doggfather had a somewhat softer approach to the G-funk style, and Snoop Dogg used a less energetic and more charismatic type of rhyming style, which would be more widely incorporated and exercised later on in his career.
In the immediate aftermath of Dre's withdrawal from Death Row records, realizing that he was subject to an iron clad time-based contract (i.e., that Death Row practically owned anything he produced for a number of years), Snoop Dogg refused to produce any more tracks for Suge Knight, other than the insulting "Fuck Death Row," until his contract expired.
Recent years
Snoop Dogg's artistic style has veered away from hardcore gangsta rap; he performed on the alternative rock Lollapalooza tour in 1997, and made several film appearances, in addition to producing and directing music videos both for himself and other artists. He released an autobiography in 2001.
Upon leaving Death Row Records, Snoop was approached by a number of record labels. He eventually signed a contract with Master P's No Limit Records. No Limit was quite popular at the time, as Southern Hip Hop was going through a revival and beginning to dominate the charts in a way which had not been seen since Florida rap dominated the charts in the early 1990s, thanks to 2 Live Crew and Luke. Snoop shortened his name from Snoop Doggy Dogg to Snoop Dogg, and received a great deal of criticism for signing to the label.
Da Game Is to Be Sold Not to Be Told was the first album Snoop released at No Limit. It received negative reviews, yet still sold well. Snoop put his stamp of the now ubiquitous "Dirty South" sound on this album. Similar to the group focus of Death Row Records, many other No Limit Records artists appeared on the album, and it was produced mostly in-house by Beats By The Pound. Snoop's next effort, No Limit Top Dogg would re-unite snoop with his mentor Dr. Dre for some highlight tracks and see a return to the G-funk style of his Death Row days; it proved to be a success in both ratings and sales, as the album embraced both old and new styles of West Coast hip hop along with assorted guests from the No Limit roster. Snoop Dogg followed this up with his last album on No Limit Records titled Tha Last Meal, which built upon the mixture of styles on No Limit Top Dogg.
In 2000, Snoop (as "Michael J. Corleone") directed Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, a pornographic film produced by Hustler. This film, combining hip-hop with X-rated material, was a huge success and won "Top Selling Release of the Year" at the 2002 AVN Awards. [3] Driven by this success, Snoop directed Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp in 2002 (this time using the nickname "Snoop Scorsese").
Snoop founded his own production company, Snoopadelic Films, in 2005. Their debut film was Boss'n Up, a film inspired by R&G starring Lil Jon and Trina. [4]
In 2002, Snoop announced that he was giving up drinking and drugs. Later that year he released the album Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$, on Capitol Records which featured the hit singles and videos "From Da Chuuuch to Da Palace" and "Beautiful," featuring guest vocals by 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 213. They released an album The Hard Way, which featured the single "Groupie Luv", and reached #4 in the U.S. Billboard 200 album charts.
In 2004, Snoop signed to Geffen Records/Star Trak Entertainment both of which are distributed through Interscope Records; Star Trak was headed by the Neptunes, who produced several tracks for Snoop's 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 Snoop Dogg's first single to reach number one. His third release was "Signs", featuring Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson, which entered the UK chart at #2. This was his highest entry ever in the UK chart.
He also notably played the drug dealer-turned-informant character of Huggy Bear, in the 2004 remake film of the 70's TV-series of the same name, Starsky & Hutch.
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) album Detox.
Snoop Dogg appeared in the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park.
As of June 2006, Snoop is doing an advertisement for Orbit Gum. In this advertisment, the Orbit Girl (Vanessa Branch) comes and cleans up Snoop's dirty mouth.
Snoop Dogg's latest music is being featured on West Coast rap albums such as Laugh Now, Cry Later by Ice Cube and Cali Iz Active by Tha Dogg Pound. He is featured on 2 tracks from Cube's album including the single "Go to Church", and several tracks on Cali Iz Active. Also, his latest song, "Real Talk", was leaked over the Internet in the summer of 2006 and a video was later released on the Internet. "Real Talk" is a dedication to Tookie Williams and a diss to Arnold Schwarzenegger. His two other new songs are "Keep Bouncing" by Too $hort, Snoop Dogg & will.i.am; and "Gangsta Walk" by Coolio & Snoop.
Snoop Dogg's 2006 release, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, did well on its first week, debuting at #5, which has been his highest since 2000's The Last Meal. The album, and the second single "That's That Shit" featuring R. Kelly have been received good critical response so far.
Currently Snoop Dogg is working with producer JT the Bigga Figga on a documentary DVD entitled Mandatory Business, which will feature the likes of Russell Simmons, Spike Lee, Xzibit, Young Buck and 50 Cent. There will also be a soundtrack released for the album.
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