Best Known As: Languid West Coast rapper and celebr-izzle
Name at birth: Cordozar Broadus
Snoop Dogg is a hip-hop star who shot to fame after being a featured rapper on Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic. A native of Long Beach, California, Broadus was a teenage gang member and drug dealer before being discovered by Dr. Dre and Death Row Records. A hit single from the movie Deep Cover (1992, with Laurence Fishburne), and the success of The Chronic helped make an immediate bestseller out of Snoop's solo debut album, Doggystyle (1993). His first hit songs, "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" and "Gin and Juice," established him as a star with broad appeal, and his unapologetic admissions of street crimes and a 1996 acquittal on a murder charge gave him "gangsta" credibility. Snoop's distinctive languid drawl set him apart from other rappers, and his bass-heavy sound, influenced by the George Clinton Parliament and Funkadelic records of the 1970s, set the tone for the West Coast "G-Funk" sound. Criticized for his frequent run-ins with police, misogynistic lyrics and success as a producer of pornography, Snoop Dogg is nonetheless a mainstream celebrity who pops up in TV shows, the movies and high-profile ad campaigns. His notable moments on screen include the movies Training Day (2001, with Denzel Washington) and Starsky & Hutch (2004, with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson). His best-known songs include "Murder Was the Case," "Snoop Dogg (What's My Name, Pt. 2)" and "Drop It Like It's Hot."
Snoop Dogg's linguistic trademark is a slang form that substitutes "izzle" for word parts, as in "fo' shizzle" ("for sure")... Snoop's early recordings with Death Row Records are under the name Snoop Doggy Dogg; in 1996 he left Death Row for No Limit Records and changed his name to simply Snoop Dogg... There is much confusion over his real name, but his autobiography, The Doggfather: The Times, Trials and Hardcore Truths of Snoop Dogg (1999), says he was born Cordozar and called Calvin as a boy... Snoop Dogg was a member of the Crips gang in Long Beach, California... In 2006 he was arrested on drugs and weapons charges in September, in October and again in November.
As the embodiment of '90s gangsta rap, Snoop Dogg blurred the lines between reality and fiction. Introduced to the world through Dr. Dre's The Chronic, Snoop quickly became the most famous star in rap, partially because of his drawled, laconic rhyming and partially because the violence that his lyrics implied seemed real, especially after he was arrested on charges of being a murder accomplice. The arrest certainly strengthened his myth, and it helped his debut album, 1993's Doggystyle, become the first debut album to enter the charts at number one, but in the long run, it hurt his career. Snoop had to fight charges throughout 1994 and 1995, and while he was eventually cleared, it hurt his momentum. The Doggfather, his second album, wasn't released until November 1996, and by that time, pop and hip-hop had burned itself out on gangsta rap. The Doggfather sold half as well as its predecessor, which meant that Snoop remained a star, but he no longer had the influence he had just two years before.
Nicknamed Snoop by his mother because of his appearance, Calvin Broadus (born October 20, 1972) was raised in Long Beach, CA, where he frequently ran into trouble with the law. Not long after his high school graduation, he was arrested for possession of cocaine, beginning a period of three years where he was often imprisoned. He found escape from a life of crime through music. Snoop began recording homemade tapes with his friend Warren G, who happened to be the stepbrother of N.W.A's Dr. Dre. Warren G gave a tape to Dre, who was considerably impressed with Snoop's style and began collaborating with the rapper.
When Dre decided to make his tentative first stab at a solo career in 1992 with the theme song for the film Deep Cover, he had Snoop rap with him. "Deep Cover" started a buzz about Snoop that escalated into full-fledged mania when Dre released his own debut album, The Chronic, on Death Row Records late in 1992. Snoop rapped on The Chronic as much as Dre, and his drawled vocals were as important to the record's success as its P-Funk bass grooves. Dre's singles "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang" and "Dre Day," which prominently featured Snoop, became Top Ten pop crossover hits in the spring of 1993, setting the stage for Snoop's much-anticipated debut album, Doggystyle. While he was recording the album with Dre in August, Snoop was arrested in connection with the drive-by shooting death of Phillip Woldermarian. According to the charges, the rapper's bodyguard, McKinley Lee, shot Woldermarian as Snoop drove the vehicle; the rapper claimed it was self-defense, alleging that the victim was stalking Snoop. Following a performance at the MTV Music Awards in September 1993, he turned himself over to authorities.
After many delays, Doggystyle was finally released on Death Row in November of 1993, and it became the first debut album to enter the charts at number one. Despite reviews that claimed the album was a carbon copy of The Chronic, the Top Ten singles "What's My Name?" and "Gin & Juice" kept Doggystyle at the top of the charts during early 1994, as did the considerable controversy over Snoop's arrest and his lyrics, which were accused of being exceedingly violent and sexist. During an English tour in the spring of 1994, tabloids and a Tory minister pleaded for the government to kick the rapper out of the country, largely based on his arrest. Snoop exploited his impending trial by shooting a short film based on the Doggystyle song "Murder Was the Case" and releasing an accompanying soundtrack, which debuted at number one in 1994. By that time, Doggystyle had gone quadruple platinum.
Snoop spent much of 1995 preparing for the case, which finally went to trial in late 1995. In February of 1996, he was cleared of all charges and began working on his second album, this time without Dre as producer. Nevertheless, when The Doggfather was finally released in November 1996, it bore all the evidence of a Dre-produced G-funk record. The album was greeted with mixed reviews, and it initially sold well, but it failed to produce a hit along the lines of "What's My Name?" and "Gin & Juice." Part of the reason of the moderate success of The Doggfather was the decline of gangsta rap. 2Pac, who had become a friend of Snoop during 1996, died weeks before the release of The Doggfather, and Dre had left Death Row to his partner Suge Knight, who was indicted on racketeering charges by the end of 1996. Consequently, Snoop's second album got lost in the shuffle, stalling at sales of two million, which was disappointing for a superstar.
Perhaps sensing something was wrong, Snoop began to revamp his public image, moving away from his gangsta roots toward a calmer lyrical aesthetic. He also began making gestures toward the rock community, signing up to tour with Lollapalooza 1997 and talking about two separate collaborations with Beck and Marilyn Manson. The solo Da Game Is to Be Sold Not to Be Told, Snoop's first effort for No Limit, followed in 1998; No Limit Top Dogg appeared a year later and Dead Man Walkin' the year after that. Tha Last Meal followed in December of that same year. The heavy release schedule resulted in varying musical quality from album to album, but by the turn of the century, Snoop had become such a cultural phenomenon that his albums almost became secondary to the personality behind them. An autobiography appeared in 2001, followed by a stream of movie roles in several high-profile pictures. Late in 2002, Snoop released his first album for Capitol, Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$. He then switched to Geffen for 2004's R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece. The hit album was followed a year later by Welcome to tha Chuuch: Da Album, a collection of tracks from the Welcome to the Chuuch mixtape series.
That same year he hosted a West Coast peace summit in hopes of squashing all beefs. In 2006, he appeared on Tha Dogg Pound's Cali Iz Active and Ice Cube's Laugh Now, Cry Later. Toward the end of the year the intentionally leaked "My Peoples" freestyle apppeared. The track paid tribute to many involved in Cali's Latin rap community, so it was no big surprise when "Vato" with Cypress Hill's B Real became his next album's leadoff single. The hard and very G-Funk Tha Blue Carpet Treatment triumphantly capped off a year of heavy West Coast activity. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Laid-back rapper Snoop Dogg followed in the footsteps of such West Coast colleagues as Ice Cube and Ice-T, and added acting to his repertoire in the late '90s.
Raised in Long Beach and nicknamed Snoop due to his resemblance to Peanuts' top canine, Snoop Dogg's troubled teen years culminated in a drug conviction after high school. After he got out of prison, Snoop Dogg turned to rap and soon captured the attention of star producer/rapper Dr. Dre. Introduced on Dr. Dre's seminal album The Chronic (1992), Snoop Dogg's smooth low-key style and lyrical authenticity turned him into one of gangster rap's stars, culminating with the release of his own top-selling, Grammy-nominated debut album Doggystyle (1993). Snoop Dogg's street cred, however, proved too negatively authentic when his involvement in a drive-by shooting led to a murder charge that same year. Battling the charge through the mid-'90s, Snoop Dogg was cleared in 1996, but his record sales waned along with gangster rap's popularity.
Still a notable music celebrity, however, Snoop Dogg branched out into acting with a cameo appearance in the stoner comedy Half Baked (1998). Staying true to his urban persona, Snoop Dogg appeared in L.A. crime drama Caught Up (1998) (as Kool Kitty Kat) and Master P's coming-of-age story Hot Boyz (1999), and co-starred with Ice-T in action movies The Wrecking Crew (1999) and Urban Menace (1999). Increasingly comfortable as an actor, Snoop Dogg subsequently took on roles in several prominent 2001 releases. Trying comedy, Snoop Dogg co-starred with Dr. Dre as friends and car wash employees in The Wash (2001). Though John Singleton's Baby Boy (2001) failed to live up to antecedent Boyz 'N the Hood (1991), Snoop Dogg was convincing as the neighborhood troublemaker. After a cameo as a drug dealer paralyzed by Denzel Washington's corrupt cop in Training Day (2001), Snoop Dogg moved to his first solo starring role in the horror movie Bones (2001). As a murdered 1970s superfly community pillar-turned-ghostly avenger, Snoop Dogg earned kudos for his assured, menacing performance.
Despite claims that his legal problems were over, Snoop Dogg was busted for marijuana possession during his Puff, Puff, Pass tour in October 2001.
2003 marked the release of Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, which featured Snoop Dogg changing his role from gangster to prankster in a series of sketch comedy bits and various on-the-street disguises. Despite its popularity, Snoop's busy schedule prevented the show for lasting more than two seasons, though it helped reestablish the market for smart, African-American satire, which had been left largely unfulfilled since the cancellation of The Chris Rock Show. Luckily, Dave Chappelle proved a more than worthy successor to Snoop Dogg in that area, leaving the rapper more than enough time to make a cameo as himself in Old School (2003), as well as continue his contributions to the infamous Girls Gone Wild series, and thoroughly overuse the never-quite-hip slang suffix "izzle." In 2004, Snoop played informant to Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson's Starsky & Hutch, as well as co-starred in director Jessy Terrero's Soul Plane. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Born Calvin Broadus (or Cordovar Varnado) on October 20th, 1972, in Long Beach, CA; son of Beverly and Vernell Varnado; married Chante; children: three.
Career
Contributed raps to "Deep Cover" soundtrack recording by Dr. Dre, 1991; featured performer on Dr. Dre, The Chronic, 1992; signed to Death Row label; released debut album Doggystyle, 1993; released Tha Doggfather, 1996; signed to No Limit label; recorded for No Limit, 1996-00; launched career of teen rapper Lil' Bow Wow; launched own clothing line; designed special-edition Cadillac, the Snoop de Ville; numerous film appearances, 2000-02.
Life's Work
His 1993 album Doggystyle was one of the defining musical moments of the 1990s, a runaway bestseller that exemplified the violent themes of West Coast rap music. But rapper Snoop Dogg, then known as Snoop Doggy Dogg, did much more than ride the wave of a musical trend. With an instantly recognizable personal style often described as relaxed or languid, Snoop told of murder and mayhem in rhymes that projected a cool charisma only intensified by the rapper's elegant six-foot-four-inch frame. "He must have had to work hard to sound this laid-back," noted the British Guardian newspaper.
By the turn of the millennium new musical trends had dented Snoop's popularity, but his talent and energy helped him avoid the flameout suffered by many of his contemporaries. With continuing musical activity, a burgeoning movie career, and a new role as a mentor to younger artists, Snoop had become, in the Guardian's words, "a pillar of the hip-hop aristocracy." His early career had been fueled in part by notoriety stemming from serious brushes with the law, and he remained a controversial figure. Few musicians of the age, however, could be reckoned equally influential.
Named After Comic-Strip Dog
Snoop Dogg was born Calvin Broadus on October 20th, 1972, in Long Beach, California; his postal-worker father was named Vernell Varnado, and he seems also to have been known as Cordovar Varnado. His mother, noting his thick head of hair as a baby, thought he resembled a puppy and nicknamed him Snoop after the "Peanuts" comic-strip dog Snoopy. Snoop's parents separated while he was still a child, but his father kept in contact with the family and encouraged his son's obvious musical talent. As a teenager Snoop played the piano in church, and it seemed for a time that sports might help to keep him off the streets--he was a gifted basketball player who attracted the attention of college scouts.
In cooperation with friend Warren Griffin, later known as Warren G., and the brother of N.W.A. frontman and "gangsta" rap pioneer Dr. Dre, Snoop also explored hip-hop music during his high school years. The two owned a simple drum machine, and Snoop, especially influenced by rapper Slick Rick, would try his hand at original rhymes. Snoop, his brother, Nate Dogg, and Griffin formed a trio called 213, named for their Southern California area code. But, partly due to family financial pressures brought on by his parents' divorce, Snoop was drawn into the notorious Los Angeles street gang the Crips. After leaving high school in Long Beach he was arrested on drug-dealing charges and spent parts of the next three years in prison.
Even the career criminals whom Snoop encountered in prison (and who provided inspiration for some of his later recordings) noticed his musical talents and advised him to stay clear of the streets and develop them. Taking the advice to heart, Snoop began spending time at a neighborhood store, V.I.P. Records, whose owner allowed Snoop and Griffin to use the shop's array of audio equipment. Soon they had recorded a demonstration single, "Super Duper Snooper," and were shopping it to music labels. Their break came when Griffin played the recording for his brother, Dr. Dre, who suddenly realized how talented his brother's friend had become. Dr. Dre, about to make his solo debut with a recording called "Deep Cover" (featured in a 1992 film of the same name), invited Snoop to contribute a rap to the piece.
Featured on The Chronic
"Deep Cover" was a hit in itself, and it landed Snoop a featured slot on Dr. Dre's 1992 recording The Chronic. That album marked the beginning of gangsta rap's long success in crossing over to the mainstream pop charts; its two singles, "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang" and "Dre Day," both featuring Snoop, made the pop top 10 in 1993. The Chronic also established the stylistic basis for Snoop's music--Dr. Dre provided Snoop with bass lines influenced by the classic funk styles of George Clinton's Funkadelic and Parliament ensembles.
Everything came together with the release of Snoop Doggy Dogg's own solo debut, Doggystyle, in 1993. Snoop proved to have the perfect rhymes to complement the "P-Funk"-inspired beats laid down by Dr. Dre, now acting as producer. In contrast to the powerful dance rhythms of hip-hop music up to that point, Snoop and Dre offered a deliberately paced, sonically varied, and vaguely druggy sound that allowed Snoop to rap convincingly of sensual pleasures and to recount his tales of violence with a particularly detached, chilling effect. In addition to these purely musical attractions, Snoop proved that there is no such thing as bad publicity when he was charged with involvement in a drive-by shooting in August of 1993; he drove a car from which his bodyguard shot and killed a man whom Snoop claimed was stalking him.
Snoop landed on the covers of three magazines; Doggystyle sold 800,000 copies in its first week of release on its way to multiplatinum status; and Snoop Doggy Dogg became a bona fide star. In addition to its numerous drug references, the album stirred controversy with its unrelenting vilification of women as "bitches" and "ho's." Snoop defended himself with the now-standard gangsta-rap rejoinder that he was only representing reality as he knew it. Sometimes condemned as a terrible example for youth in the United States, Snoop ran into even stronger criticism during a 1994 tour of Great Britain during which newspapers called for his expulsion from the country. But all these events boosted sales of Doggystyle and its everywhere-heard singles "What's My Name?" and "Gin & Juice," and Snoop got even more mileage from his predicament by releasing a short film about it, "Murder was the Case," whose soundtrack sold two million copies on its own. The rapper employed famed defense attorney Johnnie Cochran and was cleared of all charges in 1996.
By the following year, much in the musical world had changed. The appeal of gangsta rap had been diluted by the slayings of several of the genre's major stars, and the Death Row label was suffering from the indictment of its founder, Suge Knight, for violating on assault charges that would send him to prison for a five-year term. Dr. Dre produced Snoop's second solo album, Tha Doggfather, but Dre, too, was beginning to turn his attention to new projects such as the music of the phenomenally successful white rapper Eminem. Sales of Tha Doggfather stalled at approximately two million copies, half of what Doggystyle had recorded. Snoop left Death Row, incurring the enmity of Knight, and signed on with the successful rap label No Limit.
Recorded for No Limit
Truncating his name to Snoop Dogg, Snoop recorded a series of albums for No Limit and its impresario Master P. Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told (1998), Top Dogg (1999), and 2000's Dead Man Walkin'; and Tha Last Meal sold well, but to some observers seemed less distinctive in style than Snoop's earlier efforts. Snoop, opined Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the All Music Guide, was "now merely a general in the No Limit army." Unlike some other hip-hop artists, Snoop remained a formidable draw in concert. A brief reprise of his earlier troubles with the law arose in 2002 when he was arrested for marijuana possession in Ohio during his "Puff, Puff, Pass" tour.
For the most part, however, the early 2000s witnessed the emergence of a kinder, gentler Snoop Dogg. At the height of his fame in the mid-1990s he had written in Details magazine that "The best thing about being successful is that I'm able to make little kids happy. I love kids." He backed up his words with his support of the youthful rapper Lil' Bow Wow (whom he also had also given that name), and made appearances on Bow Wow's squeaky-clean recordings. On tour after the terrorist bombings of September 11, 2001, Snoop called from the stage for peace--surely an unfamiliar role for him.
His career branched out into film as he appeared in Caught Up (1998), and in 1999's Hot Boyz, The Wrecking Crew, and Urban Menace--the last two of which also featured fellow rapper Ice-T. In 2000 and 2001 Snoop was even busier. He co-starred with Dr. Dre in The Wash, a well-regarded throwback to the 1970s hit Car Wash, appeared in director John Singleton's Baby Boy, and played a small role in the award-winning Denzel Washington vehicle Training Day. On top of all these, Snoop designed a special-edition luxury car (the Snoop de Ville) and started his own clothing line. Snoop Dogg received positive reviews for his first starring role in the 2001 horror film Bones. "You kind of feel for the villain," Snoop commented to New York's Newsday, "because I'm a villain and a hero." It was a line on which Snoop had balanced expertly during his musical career as well.
Awards
Grammy nomination for Doggystyle, 1994; quadruple platinum album (sales of four million copies), Doggystyle; other platinum albums.
Works
Selected works
Albums
Doggystyle, Death Row, 1993.
Murder Was the Case, Death Row, 1994 (short film soundtrack).
Tha Doggfather, Death Row, 1996.
Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told, No Limit, 1998.
Top Dogg, No Limit, 1999.
Tha Last Meal, No Limit, 2000.
Dead Man Walkin', No Limit, 2000.
Death Row's Snoop Doggy Dogg Greatest Hits, Death Row, 2001.
Films
The Wash, 2000.
Baby Boy, 2000.
Bones, 2001.
Training Day, 2001.
Further Reading
Books
Contemporary Musicians, volume 17, Gale, 1996.
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James, 2000.
Periodicals
Daily News (New York), July 3, 2002, p. 22.
Details, July 1994, p. 50.
The Guardian (London, England), December 14, 2001, p. 20.
Jet, August 27, 2001.
Newsday, October 10, 2001, p. B2; October 21, 2001, p. D10.
San Diego Union-Tribune, December 26, 2001, p. E9.
The Times (London, England), December 2, 2001, Features section.
Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr.[1] (born
October 201971), better known professionally as Snoop
Dogg and previously Snoop Doggy Dogg, is an Americanrapper, record producer, and 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 "fo' shizzle, ma nizzle", meaning, "for sure, my nigga". That style of slang was invented by Frankie Smith and
The Gap Band in the early eighties, and popularized in part by fellow rapper
E-40,[2] much of which is
simply derived by adding an "izz" or "-izzle" sound to the end of a word.
His mother nicknamed him "Snoopy" as a child because of the way he dressed and because of his
love of the cartoon Peanuts; he took the stage name Snoop Doggy Dogg when he began
recording. He changed his name to Snoop Dogg in 1998, when he left his original record label Death Row Records and signed with No Limit Records. But he
still can be called Snoop Doggy Dogg, which he does in his songs, or by other rappers.
Biography
Early life
Snoop Dogg attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School,[3] and was later convicted for cocaine trafficking. Snoop Dogg was
a member of a local Crips gang (lead by Bow Keene Mundine) in Long Beach, the Rollin' 20's 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 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, Snoop's and 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 (now the area code of San Francisco and
its northern neighbor Marin County). Several of his cousins also became hip hop artists and Aftermath collaborators, including RBX, Joe Cool, and his cousins, Nate Dogg and Daz
Dillinger. He's also the nephew of Soul/Gospel singer
Willie Norwood and cousin of his R&B singing children Ray
J and Brandy and he recently released "Smokin Trees" with Ray J and a duet
with Brandy was pre-recorded for Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, but was not
part of the album.[4]
Success with Death Row Records
Dr. Dre began collaborating with Snoop Dogg, first on the theme song of the feature filmDeep 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 Dr.
Dre's. The huge success of Snoop Dogg's debut Doggystyle was partially due to this
intense exposure.
While recording Doggystyle with Dr. Dre in August 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in connection with the death of Phillip
Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang who was fired at and killed in a gang fight. Snoop Dogg was defended by David Kenner, with
his bodyguard McKinley Lee, while Sean Abrams (accompanying member in the jeep) was defended by Johnnie Cochran.[5] Both Snoop
Dogg and McKinley Lee were acquitted; Lee was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but Snoop Dogg remained entangled in the
legal battles around the case for three years. His video "2 of Amerikaz 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 Dogg 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 Dillinger, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and others. In 1995 Snoop Dogg and the Dogg Pound were featured on the Los Angeles Based hip-hop
show "Street Vibe '95, produced and directed by Edmund Darris [6] . This show a spin off of the St. Louis Based show "Eddie D Live" that promoted heavily rap and
hip-hop artist on midwestern television. Snopp Dogg was reported as being a king among men, according to Edmund Darris, who
interviewed him and the Dogg Pound exclusively. Darris reported that despite what the media portrays Snoop Dogg, he is a talented
genius and has the power of words...he is our modern day Shakespere with raging skills and charisma. [7]
A short film about Snoop Dogg's murder trial called Murder Was the Case,
was released in 1994, along with an accompanying soundtrack.
However, by the time Snoop Dogg'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 Dogg's friend and label-mate
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 Dogg co-produced Tha Doggfather with
Daz Dillinger and DJ Pooh.
This album featured 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 Dr. 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
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. 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.[8]
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 &
