thing we got a fight goin' on
and they get in the middle of
it and it'd just be nigg- in
there rappin', They'd ay we
can't be doin' this but when I
tell them more about it, they
start understandin' what we
was up to and it was cool,"
Snoop recounts.
Back in those days, older
people didn't mind rap so long
as it kept kids off of the street
and off of each other's head.
. But then something ent
wrong. Outside influences
began to creep into Snoop's
life in a big way.
Like rap artiste, Souls of
Mischief say, "Sometimes it
get a little hectic out there."
After graduation, Snoop
was arrested by an under­
cover cop for possession for
sale of cocaine and sentenced
to a year in county jail. It was
in jail that Snoop got a lot of
the simi h r ps bout. In
,
By TUREKA T\JRK
Mlchlpan Cltlan
. Snoop Doggy Dogg is pos­
ing on the backcover of his
new release 100 ing "hard­
core" with a joint in his
mouth, eyes off to no where in
particular. The future
maybe.
Girls squeal about how
fine the slim 22-year-old is,
big braids in his hair and all.
They thin that the "hard­
core" look in his eyes and that
innocent smile is sexy. They
think that his rhyming voice,
reminiscent of Curtis May­
field, is a turn on.
Parents wince when they
hear Snoop's voice even when
they don't know who he is.
They just hear 'We don't love
them hoes" and jump to their
conclusions about rap stars
and how they poison minds.
They can't comprehend why
th ir childr n oontinuo ly
r "Ie rap" einee
viole • . ,
and vulgar. They don't know
the difference between
Luther Campbell and Snoop
Doggy Dogg. They really
don't want to.
rna e it there.
" OR A BLAC man to
go to a funeral for one of the
homies who didn't see his
graduation, that's nothin' un­
usual," he says. Snoop, like
many young Black children,
was raised by his mother, a
migrant from Miaaisaippi,
alone. His father, also from
the South was part of the gos­
pel group The Varnado
Brothers before moving to
Detroit.
Snoop, a middle child in a
family full of boys, was raised
in the Baptist church, Gol­
gotha Trinity Baptist Church
to be exact, where he played
the piano, sang in the youth
choir and was a member of
the basketball team.
In school, Snoop was like
the one kid in class that
helped you get through the
day because of hi jo and
tr i . li
crow . It w - around tb i
time that h tarted rhyming
in the hallways of school and
started to respect the art
form. 'When rap first came
out, every rapper was real.
Snoop tells a story
. that you gotta
listen to.
For good reason, the differ­
ence between Snoop and the
rest of the "gangsta rappers"
out and about on the rap
charts should be made clear.
Everyone should know that
gangsta rappers aren't any­
thing other than street griots.
I t is from some" gangsta rap­
pers" that those obliviously
out of touch with their own
community and children will
find out what's really going
on. Snoop may be a good link.
Born in 1971, in Long
Beach, California (south of
Compton), Snoop was glad to
see the age of 21 because a lot
of his boys couldn't even
There wasn't no pop rappers.
Everylxxly was hard," Snoop
says.
Spontaneous school jams
would start in the hallways
that would draw kids from all
over the school into a big hud­
dle, vibing with the flow of it
all.
"IT GET TO passin'
around school that we be
doin somethin' and before
you know it, there'd be like
three hundred people there,
So I. just get on the mic and
start bustin', And the crowd
gettin' bigger and bigger.
Then the school counselors
.) .
n'
Th inmates told Snoop
that he was too talented to be
in a pen and that he hould do
something with himself. It
made him think because
"that's a place where
muthafuc---s don't give a f-­
about you".
SNOOP STARTED to re­
cord underground tapes
when he got out the pen. War­
ren G, a DJ and one of'Snoop's
boys, got down with Snoop
and they started selling the
tapes in the neighborhood.
Warren G, the brother of for­
mer NWA member Dr. Dre,
gave the tape to his brother
and Dre was impressed. The
end reeult was the #1 rap sin­
gle in 1992, "Deep Cover",
from the soundtrack of the
movie with the same name.
"I didn't have nothin' goin'
for myself and he was lettin'
me stay with him and just
lookin' out for me, bein' down,
lettin' me know he was sup­
portive. I was just a nigg-who
knew how to rap eomin' to his
house and he was makin'
room for me," Snoop says.
Snoop then appeared on
Dre's solo album, "The
Chronic", released on Drs's
own label, Death Row Re­
cords. Snoop wrote moat of
the lyrics, rapped on almost
all of the tracks and soloed of
four of the tracks. It is the
biggest-selling hardcore rap
album in history.
- One single, "Ntahin' But a
'v' Thang", sold more than
one million copies. The video,
along with Ore and Snoop's
face, appeared on everything
from BET to M'IV, with The
Source and Vibe in between.
As rapper Biz Markie says,
"Ohh, you're a star now."
Snoop definitely did some­
thing with himself like those
inmates told him to. Only
there are some who will say
that he didn't do much, call­
ing women "bitches and
hoes", committing a "187" .
(LAPD code for homicide) on
an undercover, and doing a
lot of his work "doggystyle".
The only reason Snoop
could be considered a link
into the minds of some urban
youths (the ones in the head-­
lines) is because, in his
rhymes, Snoop tells a story
that you gotta listen to.
His lyrics tell how he came
to be the way he is.
white.
Rap producer Jermaine
Du pri says, "The details in
Snoop's wri ting makes people
think, 'Damn, he must've re­
ally seen that."
A closer examination into
Snoop's lyrics would reveal
more about the path that
how I treat the beat when I'm
rapping: like a newborn baby.
Even if it's a-hard track, what
I'm saying will move you."
Snoop's voice plays a big
part in his success. It has a
southern twang complete
with a closet full of sound'.
There are times when Snoop
recalls his stint with the
church choir on some of his
tracks.
"It' a basic conversation,"
Snoop says about his style. "I
don't rap, I just talk."
What made noop go
from a church going
you into a b ·tter, angry
lack man?
A D, OF COUR E,
without Dre's producing,
Snoop's sound wouldn't be
complete. Ore has master­
minded a persona for Snoop
that includes a sound that
uses a lot of parliament funk.
As Rage, a female rapper
also under Dre's tutelage,
says, "If you don't have good
beats, then you might not get
as much recognition."
So, noop's solo album
"Doggystyle" is no different
from his past work on "The
Chronic".
Since Snoop is immersed in
controversy and trouble (his
bodygu rd shot a man on Au­
gust 25 while Snoop was driv­
ing th car), his album was
long awaited. The release
d te was changed almost ten
FOR EXAMPLE, in al­
most all of Snoop's rhymes he
makes it clear that he "don't
love no hoes". What made
Snoop go from a church going
youth into a bittet;-angry
Black man?
. On one track on "The
Chronic", Snoop describes
the hot day when the protago­
nist was released from prison
only to come home and find
his girl having sex with his
cousin. After pulling out a
gun, he comes to a conclusion
that women aren't worth kill­
ing. The story is an old one in
any community, Black or
most young Black man take
than .alrn t any other gang­
sta rapper. And for noop,
the art form is real impor­
tant. "It's the way you put it
down," noop said in a recent
New York Times intervi w. "I
put it down with a twist.
verybody in th whole
world knew' op Kill r"
m nt kill cop. And ev ry
polic man know the munici-.
pal cod is 187, but verybody
in th whol world didn't
know hat. ''You know how
you would r 1 n itive
and delica wi th a newborn
baby?" noop as "That's
S DO G,82