Snoop Dogg | Biography, Songs, Movies, Real Name, Olympics, Albums, & Facts (2024)

Snoop Dogg (born October 20, 1971, Long Beach, California, U.S.) is an American rapper and songwriter who became one of the best-known figures in gangsta rap in the 1990s and is for many the epitome of West Coast hip-hop culture.

Dr. Dre and Doggystyle

Snoop Dogg’s signature drawled lyrics took inspiration from his early encounters with the law. After high school he was in and out of prison for several years before seriously pursuing a career in hip-hop. Eventually, he came to the attention of famed producer-rapper Dr. Dre, who featured him on his single “Deep Cover” and on his landmark album The Chronic (both 1992). Snoop’s prominent vocals on the hit singles “Dre Day” and “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” fueled a rapid ascent to stardom. His work on the latter single garnered him his first Grammy Award nomination. His own album Doggystyle (1993) became the first debut record to enter the Billboard 200 chart at number one. Its single “Gin and Juice” became one of Snoop’s signature songs and scored him a Grammy nomination for best rap solo performance.

Legal problems and public persona

While recording Doggystyle, Snoop was arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting. Although he was ultimately cleared of all charges, the incident entangled him in court for years, contributing to a long delay before the release of his next album, Tha Doggfather (1996). By that time the gangsta rap movement had begun to ebb. For a few years Snoop’s records failed to generate excitement comparable to that of his debut, but his carefully cultivated—and at times cartoonish—public persona made him a pop culture icon. His West Coast slang and exaggerated verbal tics entered the popular American vocabulary. In 2010 he collaborated with Katy Perry on the hit single “California Gurls,” a tribute to the two performers’ home state.

Other musical projects

Snoop’s first song to reach the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (2004), featuring Pharrell. It spent 30 weeks on the chart and three weeks at number one.

In 2012 Snoop announced that, as a result of his embrace of the Rastafari movement, he had adopted the name Snoop Lion. Under that moniker, he released the reggae album Reincarnated a year later, which earned him a Grammy nomination in the best reggae album category. Also in 2013 he collaborated (under the name Snoopzilla) with funk musician Dâm Funk on the album 7 Days of Funk. He resumed the name Snoop Dogg for the funk and release Bush (2015), produced by Pharrell Williams.

Snoop returned to rap for Neva Left (2017) and followed up with a double album of gospel music, Snoop Dogg Presents Bible of Love (2018). After that detour, he released the rap album I Wanna Thank Me (2019). In 2022 Snoop was among a group of hip-hop stars—which included Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige—who performed at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Acquisition of Death Row Records

In 2022 Snoop acquired Death Row Records, the record label that had launched his career. (The label was founded by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, Dick Griffey, and the D.O.C. in 1991, but its future became uncertain in 2006 after both Knight and the label filed for bankruptcy.) Death Row’s first release under Snoop’s tutelage was his own album, BODR (for “Bacc on Death Row”).

Film and TV work and business ventures

Throughout his career, Snoop has been a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows and has amassed a substantial number of film credits, including Training Day (2001). The rapper lent his distinctive parlance to such animated series as The Boondocks and The Simpsons as well as the features Turbo (2013), The Addams Family (2019), The Addams Family 2 (2021), and The Garfield Movie (2024).

He starred in Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood (2007–09), a reality TV series chronicling his home life, and he appeared with lifestyle innovator Martha Stewart on the cooking show Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party (2016–20). In 2017 Snoop and Stewart were nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for their work as cohosts of the show. The unlikely friends also launched a series of wines with the brand 19 Crimes, and Snoop later developed, with Dr. Dre, a line of co*cktails named for his hit song “Gin and Juice.”

A longtime advocate of marijuana use, Snoop introduced his own line called Leafs by Snoop in 2015, followed by a series of cannabis products under the brand name Death Row Cannabis in 2023. The following year he opened a licensed cannabis dispensary in Los Angeles and unveiled cannabis-related items honoring his friend and former Death Row label-mate Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996 during a notorious rivalry between East Coast and West Coast rappers.

Involvement with the Olympics

During the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (which were held in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic), he appeared on the TV show Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg, in which the two men provided a humorous look at the Games.

Snoop was selected to carry the Olympic torch on its final leg before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Games in Paris. He was also a special correspondent for NBC’s coverage of the Games.