Snoop Dogg is the world’s most beloved weed-smoking, Crip-walking, long hair don’t care, uncle from Long Beach. He began rapping in high school and formed a group named 213 after his Long Beach, California area code. 213 was the start for a couple of other notable rappers, his cousin Nate Dogg and friend Warren G.
Snoop began his career as a recording artist with features on the 1992 Deep Cover soundtrack and Dr. Dre’s classic debut The Chronic in 1993. In November of that year, he released his debut album Doggystyle under Death Row Records and sold almost 807,000 albums its first week (this was a record at the time). The album later gathered critical acclaim as one of the best albums of the 90’s, even making it to Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “Essential Recordings of the 90’s”. Snoop released his second LP The Doggfather in 1996. It was also successful and is certified RIAA double platinum.
After Leaving Death Row in 1998 Uncle Snoop signed with Master P’s No Limit Records and continued to release music, but other ventures had already started to present other options for him. His acting career started in 1994 with the film “Murder Was the Case: The Movie”, but in ’98 he really started to take off. He appeared in movies such as “Half Baked” (1998), “Hot Boyz” (1999), and larger films such as “Training Day” (2001).
Snoop made his introduction in the entertainment industry as a “rapper”, but in the decades since he has been able to remain relevant in many different mediums. Outside of selling over 35 million albums worldwide, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Top 200, etc., his name consistently stays at the forefront of popular culture. Whether it was changing record labels or entering a completely different form of media he remains one of the few household names from Hip-Hop who has transitioned flawlessly through each.
In fact, the list of boxes he can check off may be unparalleled. Rapper-check, singer-check (kinda), actor-check, streamer-check, influencer-check… you get the point. Recently, he even stepped into commentary during the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight on Triller, and who can forget his Corona beer commercials with Martha Stewart? He has created quite a legacy already, and it seems that it’s far from finished.
