Snoop Dogg - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Snoop Dogg - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Snoop Dogg is an American (West Coast) rapper, producer, and actor. He is best known for his work as a gangsta rapper, and living a life outsiders typically attribute to every African American rapper.

Snoop Dogg was born in Long Beach in 1971 as Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. At first he sang in the choir of the local temple, then, in high school, he entered freestyle MC competitions. He also started to use and sell drugs at young age. After high school, he joined a local gang, and was arrested several times.

Snoop Dogg started a band in the late 80’s along with his brother and his friend Warren G. He was not discovered until the early 90’s, when he started to work with Dr. Dre on Dre’s first album. At this time Snoop Dogg took part in a shooting, but was acquitted in a highly publicized trial on the ground of self-defense.

Snoop Dogg’s first album, “Doggystyle” was released in 1993 and hit first place on the charts. In the following years, until the late 1990’s, he released another gangsta rap album, and played minor parts in various movies. The trial following the shooting, the harsh lyrics of his songs, and his heavy use of marijuana made him famous both among rap fans and censors, and he became a cult figure of the gangsta rap scene.

On his two albums released in the early 2000’s, Snoop Dogg changed his image to a more relaxed one. Besides the rap, he started experimenting with alternative rock. He established his own movie company, and produced many records for other artists. In 2002 he announced that he is giving up drinking and drugs.

Today, Snoop Dogg remains active as a producer, director of music videos, and as a rapper too. He releases records each year, but in the 2000’s he is more known of his creative work contributed to the rap scene than the scandals and crimes related to the earlier Snoop Dogg image.

Picture 1: Snoop Dogg