Snoop Dogg

One of the most recognizable voices to arise during the early-'90s G-funk period, Snoop Dogg moved past his initial gangsta-rap roots to establish himself as a widely embraced pop-culture presence through ventures into television, film, football coaching, and wrestling, all while stretching his musical output well past his core style. Brought to public attention via Dr. Dre's Top Five rap single "Deep Cover" (1992), Snoop rapidly emerged as one of rap's biggest names, thanks in part to his signature drawled and unhurried delivery along with the gritty depictions of violence woven through his verses. His debut full-length Doggystyle (1993) became the first rap album ever to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 and delivered the Top Ten pop smashes "What's My Name" and "Gin and Juice." As gangsta rap's dominance faded toward the close of the '90s, he demonstrated remarkable adaptability, leveraging his cannabis-centric persona across multiple avenues that sustained his visibility throughout the 2000s. Standout lead singles from that decade included "Beautiful" (2003) and the number-one hit "Drop It Like It's Hot" (2004), while he also lent his presence to numerous major collaborations with fellow rappers, R&B vocalists, and mainstream pop acts. The 2010s found him exploring reggae on 2013's Reincarnated, house music in a DJ capacity, and gospel with 2018's Bible of Love, even as he continued releasing hip-hop projects into the 2020s such as The Algorithm (2021)—his first effort in the role of executive creative consultant for Def Jam—and BODR (2022), which signaled a return to Death Row Records, the label that originally launched his career. In 2024 he issued his twentieth studio album, the Dr. Dre-produced Missionary.

His mother gave him the nickname Snoop because of his resemblance to the cartoon character, and Calvin Broadus grew up in Long Beach, California, where run-ins with law enforcement were frequent. Shortly after finishing high school he was arrested for cocaine possession, initiating a three-year stretch marked by repeated incarcerations. Music offered an outlet from criminal activity; Snoop started making homemade recordings alongside his friend Warren G, who happened to be the stepbrother of N.W.A's Dr. Dre. Warren G passed a tape to Dre, who was struck by Snoop's distinctive approach and soon began working with the rapper.

When Dre took his initial steps toward a solo career in 1992 by recording the theme for the film Deep Cover, he brought Snoop in to share the mic. "Deep Cover" generated early buzz that exploded once Dre dropped his own debut album The Chronic on Death Row Records late that year. Snoop's contributions to The Chronic matched Dre's in prominence, and his laid-back vocals proved essential to the project's impact alongside its P-Funk-rooted basslines. Dre's singles "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang" and "Dre Day," both prominently featuring Snoop, reached the Top Ten on the pop charts in spring 1993 and paved the way for the highly anticipated Doggystyle. While finishing the album with Dre in August, Snoop was arrested in connection with the drive-by shooting of Phillip Woldermarian; authorities charged that his bodyguard McKinley Lee fired the fatal shots while Snoop drove, though the rapper maintained it was self-defense after claiming the victim had been stalking him. Following an MTV Music Awards performance in September 1993, he surrendered to police.

After repeated postponements, Doggystyle arrived on Death Row in November 1993 and became the first rap debut to enter the charts at number one. Despite critiques labeling it a near-duplicate of The Chronic, the Top Ten singles "What's My Name?" and "Gin & Juice" kept the project dominant through early 1994, bolstered by ongoing attention surrounding both the arrest and lyrics widely viewed as excessively violent and sexist. During a spring 1994 tour in England, tabloids and a Tory minister urged officials to bar the rapper from the country, citing the pending case. Snoop capitalized on the impending trial by directing a short film inspired by the Doggystyle track "Murder Was the Case" and issuing a corresponding soundtrack that debuted at number one in 1994. By then Doggystyle had already achieved quadruple-platinum status.

Snoop devoted much of 1995 to preparing for the trial, which concluded in February 1996 with all charges dismissed; he then began work on his second album, this time without Dre's production involvement. When The Doggfather finally surfaced in November 1996, however, it retained the sonic hallmarks of a classic Dre-produced G-funk record. Reception proved mixed, and while initial sales were strong, the set never generated a breakout single comparable to "What's My Name?" or "Gin & Juice." Part of the explanation lay in gangsta rap's waning commercial appeal; 2Pac, who had grown close to Snoop during 1996, was killed weeks before The Doggfather's release, and Dre had already departed Death Row, leaving partner Suge Knight facing racketeering charges by year's end. As a result the album largely slipped through the cracks, moving only two million copies—an underwhelming figure for an artist of Snoop's stature.

Sensing the need for reinvention, Snoop began softening his gangsta image in favor of a more relaxed lyrical tone while also reaching toward rock audiences by joining the Lollapalooza 1997 tour and discussing potential collaborations with Beck and Marilyn Manson. His first No Limit release, Da Game Is to Be Sold Not to Be Told, arrived in 1998, followed by No Limit Top Dogg a year later and Dead Man Walkin' the year after that; Tha Last Meal closed out the decade in December 2000. The brisk release pace produced uneven musical results from project to project, yet by the turn of the century Snoop's cultural footprint had grown so large that his albums often took second place to the larger-than-life personality attached to them. An autobiography surfaced in 2001, accompanied by a string of roles in major films. Late in 2002 he delivered his first Capitol album, Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$, then moved to Geffen for 2004's R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece. That set yielded his first number-one single, the Pharrell Williams-produced "Drop It Like It's Hot," along with the hit "Signs" featuring Justin Timberlake and Charlie Wilson. R&G was succeeded a year later by Welcome to tha Chuuch: Da Album, drawn from the Welcome to the Chuuch mixtape series. The same year he organized a West Coast peace summit aimed at resolving longstanding rivalries.

In 2006 he appeared on Tha Dogg Pound's Cali Iz Active and Ice Cube's Laugh Now, Cry Later. Toward year's end the intentionally circulated freestyle "My Peoples" surfaced, paying homage to participants in California's Latin rap scene and foreshadowing the lead single "Vato" from his next album, which featured Cypress Hill's B Real. The hard-edged, thoroughly G-funk Tha Blue Carpet Treatment marked a triumphant close to a year of intense West Coast activity. Late in 2007 Snoop assembled the production collective QDT Muzic with new-jack-swing pioneer Teddy Riley and West Coast veteran DJ Quik; the team helmed his 2008 album Ego Trippin', which included the single "Sensual Seduction."

In 2009 he released Malice N Wonderland as the first project under a new partnership with the reactivated Priority label, which also named him creative chairman. He built anticipation for the album by hosting an episode of the live wrestling program WWE Raw a couple of months before its street date. A year later the CD/DVD package More Malice collected leftover tracks from the album alongside a DVD containing the Malice N Wonderland short film. He reinforced his mainstream visibility with a featured appearance on Katy Perry's "California Gurls," securing his third Billboard Hot 100 number one. In 2011 he issued Doggumentary, which he described as a sequel to his landmark debut; the record boasted production from Swizz Beatz, DJ Khalil, and Scott Storch, plus guest spots from Kanye West, John Legend, Wiz Khalifa, and Willie Nelson. Also arriving that year was the feature film Mac + Devin Go to High School with Khalifa, accompanied by its own soundtrack.

Following a 2012 visit to Jamaica, Snoop Dogg reemerged under the moniker Snoop Lion and, with assistance from producer Diplo, delivered his first entirely reggae album, Reincarnated, on RCA in 2013. Another temporary name change occurred later that year when he became Snoopzilla and teamed with modern funk artist Dâm-Funk for the project and album 7 Days of Funk. He reverted to Snoop Dogg in 2015 for the hip-hop album Bush, a collaboration with Pharrell Williams that featured the single "Peaches N Cream" and additional appearances from Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, and Charlie Wilson. Coolaid, a stripped-down effort executive-produced by Swizz Beatz, arrived in 2016; that same year Snoop partnered with Martha Stewart on the VH1 variety series Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, which showcased celebrity guests and hip-hop performances and continued into 2017. Also in 2017 he released the simultaneously nostalgic and contemporary Neva Left, which nodded to classics by Biz Markie and A Tribe Called Quest.

For his sixteenth album Snoop shifted direction once more, entering gospel territory with 2018's Snoop Dogg Presents Bible of Love. The project united artists from both gospel and hip-hop circles and topped the Billboard Gospel Albums chart upon arrival. A year later he returned to street-oriented material for his seventeenth album, I Wanna Thank Me, a reflective set that honored his catalog while affirming his ongoing relevance in current hip-hop. Along with guests YG and Slick Rick, the LP included a contribution from the late Nate Dogg. In 2020, while quarantined during the global COVID-19 outbreak, Snoop issued the restless single "I Wanna Go Outside," channeling cabin-fever frustration and public-health concerns over a funky, old-school beat. The swaggering "C.E.O." surfaced in early 2021 on From tha Streets 2 tha Suites, a concise collection featuring Mozzy, Devin the Dude, and Larry June that dropped on April 20. That June Snoop was appointed Def Jam's executive creative consultant, and his first album under the arrangement, The Algorithm, arrived in November; the expansive release included contributions from Usher, Benny the Butcher, Mary J. Blige, Too $hort, and many others. Only four months later he offered another full project: the February 2022 release BODR—short for "Bacc on Death Row"—coincided with his acquisition of the trademark rights to the label that had released his first two albums. Also in 2022 came the debut album from the supergroup Mount Westmore, uniting Snoop with fellow California rap legends Ice Cube, E-40, and Too $hort; the appropriately titled Snoop Cube 40 $hort first appeared via blockchain before reaching streaming platforms with additional tracks. Snoop's next solo outing was the 2024 album Missionary, his twentieth studio release and a reunion with producer Dr. Dre. As the pair approached the thirtieth anniversary of the groundbreaking 1993 album Doggystyle, Missionary revisited the dense, party-driven G-funk aesthetic of Snoop's earliest work. The project featured guest appearances from Eminem, 50 Cent, Method Man, Sting, and Jelly Roll, among others.