![]() Snoop’s hair is braided, his long, dark body a mannequin for a Death Row leather jacket, a black WeedWear T-shirt, very baggy gray pants, and old-school low-top canvas Converse sneakers. Snoop walks around the tiny studio like a wound-up scarecrow with a pink notepad tucked beneath his armpit. Meanwhile, the studio overflows with young black men milling about, some eating Fatburgers, some staring into space, others whispering loosely constructed rhymes to no one in particular. ![]() “Matter of fact, we did that on ‘Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang.’ We put a little freestyle thing on there-I don’t think they knew I was recording.” And it would be funky.” Dre pauses again, then flashes an uncharacteristic smile. He can go on and ad lib a fuckin’ song if he wants to. “He’s always coming up with different concepts and he’s good in the studio. “Snoop is gonna be around a long time,” Dre says, his thick hands palming each other, searching for words. Now the head of his own company, Death Row Records, Dre isn’t hesitant to praise Snoop Doggy Dogg’s contribution to the rap genre. But there’s no denying his talent: With The Chronic, Dre managed to produce one of the more innovative albums-rap or otherwise-in recent memory. The Dee Barnes incident and other legal entanglements still haunt him-most recently, he is being sued for breach of contract by Ruthless Records, Eazy-E’s label. Contrary to his media image, in person the burly Dre is reserved, even shy. Dre sits behind the control boards snapping his head back and forth to a contagious, bass-driven sound. Inside the studio, former N.W.A member Dr. For Snoop it is currently the only home he has other than Long Beach. THE VILLAGE RECORDER, according to an engineer and the platinum and gold albums that punctuate the walls, has been home to Cher, Eric Clapton, and Alice Cooper. Snoop’s weary understated cadence has upped the hip hop ante: No waving of baseball bats, no spitting in music videos, no bald heads. Perhaps subconsciously, Snoop’s final response to his cousin’s interrogation is also his declaration of who he was and who he claims to be. A nigga ain’t gonna be out there slippin’”), and he never roams without the Dogg Pound-Daz, Kurupt, RBX, and his other buddies from the ‘hood. So he doesn’t even worry about the static that inevitably results from walking a fine line between ghetto life and life as a rap star. He still packs two guns (“It’s just a protection thang. If you want a rapper who dramatizes the harshness of ghetto life, this is it.Īnd, on the surface at least, Snoop’s lyrics are his reality. With his weary, understated cadence, Snoop Doggy Dogg has upped the hip hop ante: No waving of baseball bats on album covers, no spitting in music videos, no bald heads. He’s just a regular kid from the block who happens to have a rhyme virtuosity that’s the envy of rappers on both coasts. In essence, then, Snoop is more than hype. ![]() So here he is-21 years old, six foot four, pencil thin, and quite obviously only one generation removed from his family’s Mississippi roots-arguing about his ability to protect himself against overzealous fans and envious knuckleheads. Until recently he had no car, and he still shares an apartment in Long Beach with his first cousin That Nigga Daz, and barely notices any of the women who parade in and out of the studio in search of him, Dre, or rapper the D.O.C. These performances marked him as one of the few rappers in hip hop history to establish a firm and identifiable presence before the release of his own debut album, Doggy Style, slated to hit the streets in early September.īut in spite of the buzz around Snoop’s rap career, he refuses-as evidenced by his argument with his cousin-to succumb to the demands of fame. ![]() If that tease wasn’t enough, on Dre’s multi-platinum The Chronic (the title was suggested by Snoop and by his own estimates he contributed a good 65 to 70 percent of the lyrics), Snoop’s singsongy-hardcore style broke loose from the other guest vocalists on the album and stole the show. Dre’s “Deep Cover” single to number one on the rap charts. Like that display of raw energy, Snoop blazed through rap music last summer on a mission, his drawl chanting from jeeps and groove-filled clubs- “‘Cuz it’s 1-8-7 on a undercover cop” -helping propel Dr. “He was telling me,” he begins in his syrupy southern twang, “for security purposes I need to probably hire him….” I fade out Snoop’s voice for a moment, mentally juxtaposing last year’s explosion of black rage with the fact that at that time no one, save the local underground scene, had ever heard of Snoop Doggy Dogg. Snoop Dogg Drops First Sneaker Line With Skechers: "These Shoes Are For Everyone" ![]()
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