WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.359 OK, so I want you to picture a scene. It's the 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.879 Paris 2024 Olympics. You're watching the equestrian 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:09.500 events, you know, dressage. Like the height of 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:12.160 class, super refined. Exactly. It's all about 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.380 discipline. It's quiet. It's focused. And sitting 00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:18.719 there right in the front row wearing a full riding 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:23.600 helmet, an equestrian blazer, is a guy who maybe 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.780 30 years ago was basically the face of America's 00:00:26.780 --> 00:00:29.640 biggest cultural nightmare. It's such a striking 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:32.979 image. It really is. It almost creates this cognitive 00:00:32.979 --> 00:00:35.579 dissonance, doesn't it? If you showed that picture, 00:00:35.659 --> 00:00:38.079 just that single frame, to a suburban parent 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:41.840 in, say, 1993, they wouldn't just be confused. 00:00:41.939 --> 00:00:43.619 I think they might actually panic. They might 00:00:43.619 --> 00:00:45.479 panic, yeah. And, of course, we're talking about 00:00:45.479 --> 00:00:47.320 Calvin Cortes, our broadest junior. Better known 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:49.619 to the entire planet as Snoop Dogg. And the easy 00:00:49.619 --> 00:00:51.219 narrative here, right, the one you always see 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:53.340 in the headlines is that he sold out or he softened 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:56.460 up. But we've got this this whole stack of sources 00:00:56.460 --> 00:00:59.000 here today. I'm talking court transcripts, business 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.539 filings, discographies, old interviews. And they 00:01:01.539 --> 00:01:03.939 all suggest something way, way more complex is 00:01:03.939 --> 00:01:06.519 going on. Oh, absolutely. The sellout narrative 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:10.579 is just it's lazy. It completely misses the actual 00:01:10.579 --> 00:01:12.459 mechanism of what happened here. Right. We're 00:01:12.459 --> 00:01:14.019 not just looking at a rapper who got a little 00:01:14.019 --> 00:01:16.159 older and decided to, you know, bake some cookies 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:19.060 on a TV show. Yeah. This is a legitimate. case 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:22.200 study in brand evolution, in crisis management, 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.040 and really in the history of modern pop culture 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:27.340 itself. So what's our mission today? What are 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:29.599 we trying to attack? I think our mission is to 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:34.159 analyze how a teenager from Long Beach who is 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:36.780 staring down a first degree murder charge and 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:40.019 a very real possibility of life sentence. how 00:01:40.019 --> 00:01:43.140 that person transformed into this ubiquitous, 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:46.019 almost universally beloved American mascot. It 00:01:46.019 --> 00:01:48.379 is genuinely wild when you just list it all out. 00:01:48.459 --> 00:01:50.180 I mean, he's a character in Call of Duty. He's 00:01:50.180 --> 00:01:52.359 analyzing sports for NBC. They got a cooking 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:54.400 show with Martha Stewart. He's a legit tech investor. 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:57.299 And yet, and this is the craziest part, he still 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:01.200 somehow maintains this street credibility. Yes. 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:03.640 That kind of cred usually just evaporates. It's 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:05.819 gone the second an artist signs a big corporate 00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:09.129 deal. But for him, it sticks. So that's the core 00:02:09.129 --> 00:02:10.849 tension, right? That's what we need to explore 00:02:10.849 --> 00:02:14.349 today. How did he cross that chasm? We're going 00:02:14.349 --> 00:02:16.110 to unpack this whole evolution from the deep 00:02:16.110 --> 00:02:18.569 cover era right into the boardroom. And we have 00:02:18.569 --> 00:02:20.409 to be thorough because the details of how he 00:02:20.409 --> 00:02:23.090 pulled this off, they're fascinating. Yeah, they 00:02:23.090 --> 00:02:25.189 really are. So let's start at the very beginning. 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:27.090 We have to go back to the soil that grew him. 00:02:27.509 --> 00:02:32.349 Long Beach, California, October 20, 1971. The 00:02:32.349 --> 00:02:35.180 setting is absolutely crucial. But even before 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:36.960 that, we have to look at the family dynamics 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.539 because they really do set the stage for everything 00:02:39.539 --> 00:02:41.780 that comes later. Okay. So he was born to Beverly 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:45.819 Tate and Vernell Varnado. Now, Vernell, that's 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:48.460 his biological father, was a Vietnam veteran 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:51.740 and, interestingly, a singer. Ah, so the musical 00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:53.759 DNA was there from day one. It was definitely 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:56.460 there, but the father figure himself wasn't. 00:02:56.840 --> 00:02:59.120 Vernell left the family really early on, I think 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:00.960 only about three months after Snoop was born. 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:04.759 Wow. So the name the world knows him by, Broadus, 00:03:04.819 --> 00:03:07.099 that actually comes from his stepfather, Calvin 00:03:07.099 --> 00:03:10.099 Cortisar Broadus Sr. That's the man who raised 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:12.879 him and gave him his name. But the name that 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:17.020 made him famous, Snoop, that came from his mother, 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.379 didn't it? It did. And I love this origin story 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:23.460 because it's so, it's just so disarmingly innocent. 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:25.780 She started calling him Snoopy because she honestly 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:27.840 thought he looked like the little beagle from 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:30.449 the Peanuts cartoon. That's amazing. The guy 00:03:30.449 --> 00:03:32.550 who would become the poster child for gangster 00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:35.370 rap was literally named after a cartoon dog. 00:03:35.610 --> 00:03:38.050 It kind of speaks to a softness, you know, that 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:40.210 was always there, maybe buried underneath a public 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:42.689 image. Right. And we absolutely have to talk 00:03:42.689 --> 00:03:44.330 about the church. This is a detail that gets 00:03:44.330 --> 00:03:47.430 glossed over so often in the, you know, the tough. 00:03:48.600 --> 00:03:50.840 Gangster biographies. He was raised Baptist. 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:53.539 Okay. He spent a huge chunk of his childhood 00:03:53.539 --> 00:03:56.319 singing and playing piano at the Golgotha Trinity 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:58.740 Baptist Church. And his mother was in the choir, 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:00.639 right? She was the one who introduced him to 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:03.800 all that old school R &B. Exactly. And this is 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:06.360 so critical for understanding his musical style 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:09.060 later on. You have to ask, why does Snoop sound 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:11.439 so different from almost every other rapper in 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.520 1992? It's the melody. It's the melody. He had 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:17.199 a melodic foundation. He wasn't just about percussion 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:20.100 and rhythm. He understood melody. But, you know, 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:22.500 as you can imagine, outside the church walls, 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:27.500 the reality of 1980s Long Beach was, well, it 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:29.899 was waiting for him. The grind. The grind in 00:04:29.899 --> 00:04:31.920 the environment, yeah. He was hustling from a 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.240 young age, selling candy, delivering newspapers, 00:04:34.579 --> 00:04:37.879 bagging groceries at the local store. But despite 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:40.339 his mother's best efforts to keep him on that 00:04:40.339 --> 00:04:43.269 church path, the... Let's call it the gravity 00:04:43.269 --> 00:04:46.829 of the neighborhood. It just took over. And by 00:04:46.829 --> 00:04:49.350 his teenage years, he was affiliated. Yeah, he 00:04:49.350 --> 00:04:52.129 joined the Rollin' 20s Crips. And the legal trouble 00:04:52.129 --> 00:04:54.029 started pretty much immediately after he graduated 00:04:54.029 --> 00:04:55.750 high school, right? It was like a revolving door. 00:04:56.029 --> 00:04:58.269 He graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:00.990 School in 1989. And very shortly after that, 00:05:01.129 --> 00:05:03.790 he was arrested for possession of cocaine. And 00:05:03.790 --> 00:05:05.829 for the next three years, he was just constantly 00:05:05.829 --> 00:05:08.319 in and out of incarceration. Places like Wayside 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:11.360 Jail. Exactly. That classic tragic story of immense 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.459 potential meeting a dead end or what looks like 00:05:14.459 --> 00:05:16.920 a dead end. But obviously he found a way out. 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:20.920 And that way out was the music. This brings us 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:24.540 to the formation of his original crew. 213. 213. 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:27.000 Named after the telephone area code for Long 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.699 Beach at the time, it was Snoop, his cousin Nate 00:05:29.699 --> 00:05:32.579 Dogg. Who had that incredible, soulful baritone 00:05:32.579 --> 00:05:35.870 voice. Unmistakable. Oh, just one of the greatest 00:05:35.870 --> 00:05:37.810 voices in hip hop history. Then you have Little 00:05:37.810 --> 00:05:41.089 Half Dead and his friend Warren G. And Warren 00:05:41.089 --> 00:05:43.790 G is the key. He's the golden ticket in this 00:05:43.790 --> 00:05:46.029 whole story. He is the connector. Oh. Absolutely. 00:05:46.129 --> 00:05:49.350 Why? Because Warren G is Dr. Dre's stepbrother. 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:51.269 There it is. So you have this group of kids. 00:05:51.269 --> 00:05:53.670 They're just recording homemade tapes at a local 00:05:53.670 --> 00:05:57.009 spot, VIP Records in Long Beach, hoping, just 00:05:57.009 --> 00:05:58.990 hoping for a break. And the breakthrough happens 00:05:58.990 --> 00:06:01.790 because of one specific freestyle tape. Yes. 00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:05.329 Soup freestyled over M Vogue's Hold On. Which 00:06:05.329 --> 00:06:08.029 is an R &B track. That's such a key detail. He 00:06:08.029 --> 00:06:10.550 wasn't rapping over some hard boom bap East Coast 00:06:10.550 --> 00:06:13.850 beat. He was flowing over smooth, melodic R &B. 00:06:14.449 --> 00:06:17.230 100%. And that specific tape, somehow it makes 00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:19.350 its way to Dr. Dre. Dre is listening to this 00:06:19.350 --> 00:06:21.790 at a bachelor party of all places. Can you imagine? 00:06:22.189 --> 00:06:25.509 And he was so blowed away by the flow, the voice, 00:06:25.569 --> 00:06:29.089 the way Snoop just wrote that sample that he 00:06:29.089 --> 00:06:31.209 invited him to audition. And this was for... 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.339 what future shock record future shock which was 00:06:34.339 --> 00:06:36.779 the direct precursor to the legendary death row 00:06:36.779 --> 00:06:39.040 records but even then he wasn't a finished product 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:41.120 i was reading about the mentorship he got from 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.120 the doc and it sounds like he needed some pretty 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:45.540 serious coaching at first oh this is a detail 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:49.759 that real hip -hop heads just love the doc is 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.899 a legend in his own right an absolute brilliant 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:55.579 lyricist the genius he basically sat snoop down 00:06:55.579 --> 00:06:58.319 and taught him the architecture of a song you 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:00.379 have to understand snoop was a pure freestyler 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:02.839 He could just go off the top of his head for 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:05.600 hours just rambling and weaving these incredible 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:07.980 stories. But it wasn't structured. No structure 00:07:07.980 --> 00:07:10.139 at all. And the DOC taught him that. He said, 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:13.220 look, here is a 16 -bar verse. Here is the hook. 00:07:13.339 --> 00:07:16.480 Here is the chorus. He literally turned a raw 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.600 freestyler into a professional songwriter. And 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.839 that transition is what allowed him to really 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:24.500 define his artistry. We have to spend a minute 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:27.699 on what the sources call the drawl. Because in 00:07:27.699 --> 00:07:31.029 the early 90s, rap was loud. It was very, very 00:07:31.029 --> 00:07:34.149 high energy. I mean, you had Public Enemy, you 00:07:34.149 --> 00:07:37.569 had NWA's more aggressive tracks. So much of 00:07:37.569 --> 00:07:40.389 it was about volume and intensity. It was about 00:07:40.389 --> 00:07:43.480 literally screaming. on the track to get your 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:46.160 political point across. And Snoop just went the 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.600 complete opposite direction. The molasses drawl. 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:50.579 That's what the critics called it. And they noticed 00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:52.519 it immediately. While everyone else was shouting, 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.879 Snoop was speaking softly. It's laid back. It's 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:59.160 so laid back. He used syncopation and this almost 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:02.819 lazy phrasing to create a vibe that forced you 00:08:02.819 --> 00:08:06.180 as the listener to lean in. He wasn't begging 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.360 for your attention. He was commanding it by being 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:10.339 quiet. And it's interesting because despite the 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:13.040 DOC's training on structure, he kept that freestyle 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.040 spirit. I read that people like Lady of Rage 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:17.779 and others who were in the studio said he often 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:19.779 didn't write lyrics down at all. That's absolutely 00:08:19.779 --> 00:08:21.519 right. I mean, take a classic track like the 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:23.899 Shiznit from Dolny Style. That was one take. 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:27.079 A complete freestyle. He just got in the zone 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:30.620 in the booth and busted it out. That level of 00:08:30.620 --> 00:08:33.940 natural talent to compose a cohesive classic 00:08:33.940 --> 00:08:37.919 song in real time, it's just incredibly rare. 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:40.100 So he hooks up with Dre, he finds this completely 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:43.580 unique voice, and then the explosion happens. 00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:46.159 It really starts with Deep Cover in 92. Deep 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:48.139 Cover was the warning shot. You know, it's a 00:08:48.139 --> 00:08:50.600 theme song for a movie, but it became this massive 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:53.000 street anthem. It was the world's introduction 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.269 to Snoop Doggy Dogg. With the chronic. The Chronic 00:08:56.269 --> 00:08:59.490 was the full -scale invasion. It was. Snoop was 00:08:59.490 --> 00:09:02.429 featured so heavily all over Dr. Dre's The Chronic, 00:09:02.490 --> 00:09:04.669 especially on nothing but a G -Thang. Which you 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:06.409 could argue is one of the most important hip 00:09:06.409 --> 00:09:08.769 -hop singles of all time. It changed everything. 00:09:09.129 --> 00:09:11.210 It set the stage perfectly for what was probably 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:13.710 the most anticipated debut album in hip -hop 00:09:13.710 --> 00:09:17.659 history, Doggystyle. The numbers are still just 00:09:17.659 --> 00:09:19.980 staggering, even by today's streaming standards. 00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:21.960 They're mind -boggling. It debuted at number 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:25.659 one on the Billboard 200. It sold 806 ,000 copies 00:09:25.659 --> 00:09:27.460 in the first week. Let's just sit with that. 00:09:28.059 --> 00:09:31.580 806 ,000 units. That's not streams. That's people 00:09:31.580 --> 00:09:33.799 getting in their cars, driving to Tower Records 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.259 or Sam Goody and buying physical CDs and cassette 00:09:37.259 --> 00:09:40.220 tapes. It was an event, a cultural event, and 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:42.080 it went on to sell, what, quadruple platinum? 00:09:42.340 --> 00:09:44.639 At least. And tracks like What's My Name and 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:47.279 Gin & Juice were just, they were inescapable. 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:50.019 They were. But more importantly, I think, the 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:52.220 album effectively defined the G -Funk genre. 00:09:52.590 --> 00:09:55.289 It codified that entire West Coast aesthetic. 00:09:55.529 --> 00:09:57.809 The slow -rolling bass lines, the high -pitched 00:09:57.809 --> 00:10:00.629 synthesizers, the clever P -funk samples. But, 00:10:00.629 --> 00:10:03.250 and this is the massive but that hangs over this 00:10:03.250 --> 00:10:05.850 entire period while he is sitting on top of the 00:10:05.850 --> 00:10:08.750 entire world with the number one album, he is 00:10:08.750 --> 00:10:10.909 literally on trial for his life. This is the 00:10:10.909 --> 00:10:13.470 most dramatic, most surreal period of his entire 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:15.990 existence. It's August 1993, so this is even 00:10:15.990 --> 00:10:18.039 before the album drops. Right. A confrontation 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:20.139 happens in a park in the Palms neighborhood of 00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:22.899 Los Angeles. A man named Philip Oldomarium, who 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:24.580 was a rival gang member, is shot and killed. 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:27.419 Snoop was driving the vehicle. His bodyguard, 00:10:27.620 --> 00:10:30.259 a man named McKinley Lee, fired the shot. And 00:10:30.259 --> 00:10:32.279 the charge wasn't manslaughter or self -defense. 00:10:32.539 --> 00:10:34.440 They went for the maximum. First -degree murder. 00:10:34.659 --> 00:10:37.000 Right. Both of them. And you have to remember 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.899 the context of the time. The media narrative 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:42.759 was that gangster rap was a plague, a virus. 00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:45.039 It was a moral panic. A total moral panic. It 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:49.799 was dangerous, violent. So the prosecution wasn't 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:52.639 just trying a man. In many ways, they felt like 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:55.220 they were trying the entire genre of music. They 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:57.779 wanted to prove that the lyrics he wrote were 00:10:57.779 --> 00:11:00.419 a confession of his actual character. To defend 00:11:00.419 --> 00:11:03.100 himself, Snoop hired the absolute heavyweight, 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:05.519 Johnny Cochran. The same lawyer from the Dream 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.679 Team who would, just a short time later, go on 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:09.840 to defend O .J. Simpson. So it was a complete 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:12.279 media circus. You had Snoop releasing these iconic 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:15.320 music videos, and then the next morning, walking 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.059 into court in a suit and tie. And Art was imitating 00:11:18.059 --> 00:11:19.980 life in real time. I mean, he released a short 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:22.820 film and a soundtrack in 1994 called Murder Was 00:11:22.820 --> 00:11:25.340 the Case. That film is so surreal to watch now. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:28.559 In the movie, Snoop's character literally makes 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:30.720 a deal with the devil to survive a shooting. 00:11:30.860 --> 00:11:33.159 He was actively monetizing his own potential 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:36.039 demise. It was a high wire act. A total high 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:39.000 wire act of marketing and reality just blurring 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:41.379 together into one thing. And then the verdict 00:11:41.379 --> 00:11:44.940 finally comes down on February 20, 1996. Acquitted. 00:11:45.610 --> 00:11:47.730 Both he and McKinley Lee were cleared of the 00:11:47.730 --> 00:11:50.389 murder charges. It's interesting. The case files 00:11:50.389 --> 00:11:53.110 were formally sealed just recently, in 2024. 00:11:53.570 --> 00:11:55.870 So it's officially over, but the psychological 00:11:55.870 --> 00:11:58.789 impact on Snoop at the time must have been profound. 00:11:58.870 --> 00:12:01.750 It was. He went on record multiple times saying 00:12:01.750 --> 00:12:03.990 he wanted to leave the gangsta lifestyle behind 00:12:03.990 --> 00:12:06.730 completely. He felt that if he kept going down 00:12:06.730 --> 00:12:08.909 that path, he would either be assassinated or 00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:11.070 he'd end up in prison for good. And he wasn't 00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:12.850 being paranoid. I mean, the entire environment 00:12:12.850 --> 00:12:15.090 around him was literally collapsing. Death Row 00:12:15.090 --> 00:12:17.429 Records was imploding. It was a disaster zone. 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:20.350 Tupac Shakur was murdered in September of 96. 00:12:20.990 --> 00:12:24.009 The label's CEO, Suge Knight, was indicted on 00:12:24.009 --> 00:12:26.750 racketeering charges. The very label that had 00:12:26.750 --> 00:12:28.889 built Snoop's entire career was quickly becoming 00:12:28.889 --> 00:12:31.370 a graveyard, both literally and figuratively. 00:12:31.629 --> 00:12:34.330 So when Snoop releases his second album, Tie 00:12:34.330 --> 00:12:38.029 Dog Father, in late 1996, the whole vibe is completely 00:12:38.029 --> 00:12:40.279 different. It's a world away from doggy style. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.080 For one, Dr. Dre had already left the label because 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:47.460 of disputes with Suge. So Snoop had to co -produce 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:50.840 it himself with Daz Dillinger and DJ Pooh. And 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:53.240 the sound. The sound was softer. The gangster 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:56.220 edge was noticeably dulled. It still sold well 00:12:56.220 --> 00:12:58.860 because, you know, he was Snoop Dogg. Yeah. But 00:12:58.860 --> 00:13:01.120 it wasn't the cultural phenomenon that doggy 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:04.519 style was. Not even close. And this is where 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:06.159 he starts to run into the wall, the business 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:08.580 side of things. He starts to realize the nature 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:11.799 of the deal he signed way back when. He realizes 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:14.940 the contract he signed with Death Row was, well, 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:17.419 let's call it draconian. It was incredibly restrictive. 00:13:17.820 --> 00:13:20.200 How so? Death Row owned everything. His masters, 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:23.019 his publishing, his image. It was a time -based 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:25.440 contract, which meant they owned his entire creative 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:28.240 output for a set number of years. He was trapped. 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:30.820 So what if he'd do? He couldn't leave. He engaged 00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:33.740 in a creative strike. A work stoppage. He just 00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:35.700 flat out refused to produce any more tracks for 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:37.799 Suge Knight until the contract expired. He just 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:40.120 waited them out? He did. Well, he did record 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:41.700 one more track for them. Which one? A track that 00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:45.259 was explicitly and simply titled Fuck Death Row. 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:48.379 Subtle. Very subtle. Very. But it was a clear 00:13:48.379 --> 00:13:51.179 signal. It marked the end of an era. He was finally 00:13:51.179 --> 00:13:54.559 free. But now he needed a new home. And the choice 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.639 he made? It shocked everybody. He went south. 00:13:57.740 --> 00:14:00.100 He signed with Master P and No Limit Records. 00:14:00.700 --> 00:14:03.720 A move that confused so many people, especially 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.980 the coastal elites in hip -hop. Why go from the 00:14:06.980 --> 00:14:09.840 polished, smooth, expensive -sounding G -funk 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.639 of the West Coast to the gritty, bounce -influenced, 00:14:13.659 --> 00:14:16.179 mass -production sound of New Orleans? Yeah, 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:18.100 why did he do that? Was it just desperation? 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:20.679 Was it the only deal on the table? No, I think 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:22.679 it was a very calculated strategy. Snoop said 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:24.840 he liked that No Limit handmade their material 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:26.759 to fit the artist. But I think the more important 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:28.740 factor was that Master P was running a business, 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:31.200 not a gang. Right. It was stable. It was stable 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.700 and it was profitable. Master P was churning 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:36.000 out albums at this incredible pace, and he was 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.679 known for paying his artists. Snoop needed cash 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:40.860 flow, and maybe more than that, he needed safety. 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:43.779 So from 1998 to 2000, we get the No Limit era, 00:14:44.019 --> 00:14:46.379 a whole different Snoop. Yeah, you get albums 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:48.940 like Day Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told, 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:52.259 and No Limit Top Dog. And commercially, they 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:54.580 were very successful. He kept his name out there. 00:14:54.740 --> 00:14:57.460 But critically. Critically, a lot of people felt 00:14:57.460 --> 00:15:00.259 the sound just didn't quite fit Snoop's smooth 00:15:00.259 --> 00:15:03.080 delivery. It felt a little clunky, a little forced, 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:06.159 but it did what it needed to do. It kept him 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:08.639 relevant, and crucially, it kept him solvent. 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:11.340 He proved he could survive outside the death 00:15:11.340 --> 00:15:14.080 row machine. But then, in the early 2000s, we 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:17.399 see another big shift. The emergence of the pimp 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:19.980 persona. This is the Pharrell Williams and the 00:15:19.980 --> 00:15:23.620 Neptunes era. A huge pivot. He signs with Geffen 00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:26.460 with their Star Trek imprint. The album paid 00:15:26.460 --> 00:15:29.080 the cost to be DeBoss signals the shift. But 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:31.960 the real peak is the 2004 album, R &G, Rhythm 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:34.019 and Gangsta, the masterpiece. Which has Drop 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:37.000 It like it's hot on it. His first ever number 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:39.419 one single on the Billboard Hot 100. And you 00:15:39.419 --> 00:15:40.879 have to think about that for a second. That's 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:43.200 crazy. Gin and Juice didn't go to number one. 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:45.500 What's my name? It didn't. But Drop It Like It's 00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:48.500 Hot did. The sheer minimalism of that Neptune's 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:51.379 beat with Snoop's tongue clicks and smooth flow. 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:54.379 It was absolutely everywhere. And he had successfully 00:15:54.379 --> 00:15:57.679 transitioned from gangsta to this sort of smooth, 00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:01.679 almost cartoonish, stylized pimp figure. He did. 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:04.379 And speaking of that image, there's a detail 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:06.240 in the sources from that time that I found kind 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:10.059 of jaw -dropping. In a 2006 Rolling Stone interview, 00:16:10.419 --> 00:16:12.940 he claimed this wasn't just an image he was playing 00:16:12.940 --> 00:16:14.879 with. Right. What do you mean? He claimed that 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:18.379 between 2003 and 2004, he was actually a professional 00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:21.769 pimp. For real. Oh. He called it his natural 00:16:21.769 --> 00:16:24.769 calling and said, and this is a direct quote, 00:16:24.870 --> 00:16:27.370 it was like shooting layups. He claimed to have 00:16:27.370 --> 00:16:29.820 a stable of women. and that he toured with them 00:16:29.820 --> 00:16:32.480 on a Playboy bus. I mean, was that real? Or was 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:34.600 that just marketing hyperbole to sell the image? 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.559 It's impossible to say for sure. But whether 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:40.019 it was real or just feeding the mythology, it 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:42.899 definitely worked. It added this layer of illicit 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:45.559 glamour to his persona without the real -world 00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:47.700 grittiness of street violence. But just as he 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:49.500 cements that whole persona, he starts getting 00:16:49.500 --> 00:16:52.419 weird in a really good way. He starts bending 00:16:52.419 --> 00:16:55.659 genres like crazy. The chameleon phase begins. 00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:58.259 This is where he becomes unpredictable. He does 00:16:58.259 --> 00:17:00.320 the title track for a Bollywood movie, Sing is 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:03.259 King, in 2008. I remember that. Then he collaborates 00:17:03.259 --> 00:17:05.839 with Katy Perry on California Girls in 2010. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:08.619 And that Katy Perry track is a monster hit. Yeah. 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:11.420 That's the moment where, like... grandmas and 00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:13.660 toddlers and everyone in between knows who Snoop 00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:16.039 Dogg is. He's basically a full blown pop star 00:17:16.039 --> 00:17:18.579 at that point. He became safe enough for Top 00:17:18.579 --> 00:17:20.680 30 Radio, which is incredible considering where 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:22.960 he started. But then he takes this incredibly 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:25.859 sharp left turn in 2012. He goes to Jamaica. 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:28.539 The Snoop Lion era. I remember this so clearly. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:30.380 It felt like a global fever dream. It really 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:32.500 did. He goes to Jamaica. He has this spiritual 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:35.160 awakening and he claims to be the reincarnation 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.109 of Bob Marley. He changes his name to Snoop Lion. 00:17:38.369 --> 00:17:41.450 Releases a full reggae album, reincarnated, and 00:17:41.450 --> 00:17:43.769 a documentary to go with it. It was a total immersion 00:17:43.769 --> 00:17:46.430 into a new identity. How was it accepted? Was 00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:49.170 it seen as a genuine spiritual journey or just 00:17:49.170 --> 00:17:51.930 a gimmick? The results were very mixed. The album 00:17:51.930 --> 00:17:54.430 did okay on the charts, but the cultural reception 00:17:54.430 --> 00:17:58.569 was complicated. Bunny Whaler, an absolute legend 00:17:58.569 --> 00:18:01.369 from Bob Marley's band The Whalers, he criticized 00:18:01.369 --> 00:18:03.809 it very heavily. What did he say? He called it 00:18:03.809 --> 00:18:07.220 fraudulent. He accused Snoop of cultural appropriation, 00:18:07.220 --> 00:18:09.279 of just using Rastafari culture as a costume 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.440 to sell records. Ouch. That's harsh. It was very 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:14.940 harsh. Snoop kind of dismissed the criticism, 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:17.440 saying his spiritual journey was personal and 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.240 nobody could judge it. But you'll notice he didn't 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.339 stay a lion for very long. Right. He pivoted 00:18:22.339 --> 00:18:25.680 again. Immediately. He did a pure funk album 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:28.880 with Damn Funk in 2013 called Seven Days of Funk. 00:18:29.629 --> 00:18:32.049 And then maybe the most surprising turn of all. 00:18:32.170 --> 00:18:35.450 In 2018, he releases a full double -disc gospel 00:18:35.450 --> 00:18:37.730 album. Eyeball of Love. And for that one, he 00:18:37.730 --> 00:18:40.250 called himself a born -again Christian. It feels 00:18:40.250 --> 00:18:41.910 like he's just walking into a costume shop and 00:18:41.910 --> 00:18:43.869 trying on every single hat on the shelf to see 00:18:43.869 --> 00:18:46.470 what fits. Or maybe he realizes that Snoop is 00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:48.710 the brand and the genre is just the packaging. 00:18:48.950 --> 00:18:51.769 The music almost becomes secondary to the personality 00:18:51.769 --> 00:18:54.009 who's delivering it. That's a great way to put 00:18:54.009 --> 00:18:56.430 it. He can sell you gospel, reggae, or funk, 00:18:56.509 --> 00:18:58.809 and you buy it not necessarily for the genre, 00:18:58.849 --> 00:19:01.029 but because he is the one selling it to you. 00:19:01.130 --> 00:19:03.529 And then we get the ultimate full circle moment, 00:19:03.670 --> 00:19:05.890 the one that ties the whole story together. February 00:19:05.890 --> 00:19:09.589 2022. He acquires the Death Row Records brand 00:19:09.589 --> 00:19:12.410 from M &RK Music Group. Think about that. The 00:19:12.410 --> 00:19:14.650 label that launched him, the label he went to 00:19:14.650 --> 00:19:17.369 war with, the label he had to literally escape 00:19:17.369 --> 00:19:20.400 from. He bought it. He owns it now. That is the 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:22.880 ultimate power move in music history. I can't 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:24.619 think of a bigger one. It's incredible. And to 00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:27.380 celebrate, he released his 20th studio album, 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:30.660 Missionary, in 2024. And it's produced entirely 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:33.480 by Dr. Dre. They called it a spiritual sequel 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:36.779 to Doggystyle. From employee to owner. But the 00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:39.220 music, at this point, it's really only half the 00:19:39.220 --> 00:19:41.460 story. Maybe even less than half. We have to 00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:43.660 talk about Snoop the Mogul. Because his business 00:19:43.660 --> 00:19:46.599 portfolio is just... It's bafflingly diverse. 00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:48.980 It is the absolute definition of diversification. 00:19:49.140 --> 00:19:51.740 I mean, let's just look at media first. He realized 00:19:51.740 --> 00:19:54.839 really early on that he had genuine comedic timing. 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:57.779 Doggy fizzle televizzle on MTV. I loved that 00:19:57.779 --> 00:20:00.359 show. It was a sketch show. And he was genuinely 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:02.460 funny. He wasn't taking himself too seriously 00:20:02.460 --> 00:20:05.019 at all. And that led to all these roles in movies 00:20:05.019 --> 00:20:07.559 like Starsky and Hutch, The Wash, and even a 00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:09.420 serious role in Training Day, where he played 00:20:09.420 --> 00:20:12.279 a villain really, really well. And we, uh... 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:14.980 We can't skip over Soul Plane. We probably could 00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:16.920 skip over Soul Plane from a critical standpoint. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:20.140 But culturally, you're right. It cemented him 00:20:20.140 --> 00:20:24.079 as this comedic fixture. But the absolute crown 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:27.539 jewel of his media reinvention has to be the 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:30.440 partnership with Martha Stewart. Martha and Snoop's 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:32.859 pot -loved dinner party. I mean, who in their 00:20:32.859 --> 00:20:35.099 right mind pitched that? Hey, let's take the 00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:37.279 domestic goddess of Connecticut and the dog father 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.079 from Long Beach and have them cook together. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:42.130 Sounds like a joke. It sounds like a Mad Libs, 00:20:42.130 --> 00:20:45.210 but it was genius. Pure genius. It played on 00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:47.450 the obvious contrast, but it also revealed this 00:20:47.450 --> 00:20:49.809 genuine, surprising chemistry they had. It did. 00:20:49.930 --> 00:20:52.269 And it softened his image completely. I mean, 00:20:52.289 --> 00:20:55.250 you can't be terrified of a guy who is happily 00:20:55.250 --> 00:20:58.269 icing cupcakes with Martha Stewart. It made him 00:20:58.269 --> 00:21:00.990 a household name for a demographic of people 00:21:00.990 --> 00:21:03.269 that never, ever would have bought Doggy Style. 00:21:03.789 --> 00:21:06.950 It stripped away the last remnants of fear that 00:21:06.950 --> 00:21:09.049 were associated with his brand. And he didn't 00:21:09.049 --> 00:21:11.789 just stop at traditional TV. He got into tech. 00:21:12.250 --> 00:21:14.410 This is the part that surprises a lot of people. 00:21:14.589 --> 00:21:18.509 In 2014, he participated in Reddit's $50 million 00:21:18.509 --> 00:21:21.250 funding round. Wait, wait, wait. Snoop Dogg is 00:21:21.250 --> 00:21:24.490 an early investor in Reddit. He is. He also invested 00:21:24.490 --> 00:21:27.029 in Eaze, the cannabis delivery startup, which 00:21:27.029 --> 00:21:29.910 makes sense. And he founded his own digital media 00:21:29.910 --> 00:21:32.470 site focused on cannabis culture, Mary Jane. 00:21:32.910 --> 00:21:35.269 He even, for a while, sat on the board of directors 00:21:35.269 --> 00:21:38.009 for FaZe Clan, the big gaming organization. That 00:21:38.009 --> 00:21:40.190 gaming connection is really strong, too. He's 00:21:40.190 --> 00:21:42.529 an operator skin in Call of Duty. Right. You 00:21:42.529 --> 00:21:44.349 can literally play as Snoop Dogg. He launched 00:21:44.349 --> 00:21:47.369 his own gangsta gaming league. He's smart. He 00:21:47.369 --> 00:21:49.309 just goes where the eyeballs are. He's not precious 00:21:49.309 --> 00:21:51.890 about high art versus low art. If it's popular, 00:21:52.089 --> 00:21:54.140 Snoop wants to be there. And then, of course, 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.019 there are the consumer products. Oh, the products. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:02.460 Leafs by Snoop. He was the first major celebrity 00:22:02.460 --> 00:22:05.299 to really brand a line of legal marijuana products. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:07.460 That's a no -brainer. But then you have stuff 00:22:07.460 --> 00:22:10.000 like Snoop Kali Red Wine with the 19 Crimes brand. 00:22:10.140 --> 00:22:12.240 I see that everywhere I go. The bottle has his 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:14.660 face on it, and the cork has his face on it. 00:22:14.740 --> 00:22:17.440 And now there are gin and juice, pre -mixed cocktails, 00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:21.519 and cookbooks. He has two, from Cook to Cook 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.279 and Goon with a Spoon. The titles are amazing. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.940 And didn't he set some kind of world record related 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:29.380 to gin and juice? He did. It was in 2018 at the 00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:31.900 Bottle Rock Music Festival. He set the Guinness 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:33.859 World Record for the largest paradise cocktail. 00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:36.799 It was basically a massive functioning vat of 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:39.599 gin and juice. How big are we talking? 550 liters. 00:22:39.779 --> 00:22:41.819 That is a lot of gin. It's a swimming pool of 00:22:41.819 --> 00:22:44.500 gin. But again, look at what he's doing. It's 00:22:44.500 --> 00:22:47.000 the monetization of his own history. He took 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.980 a lyric from 1993 and turned it into a world 00:22:49.980 --> 00:22:52.500 record and a successful product line a quarter 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:54.799 of a century later. We also have to touch on 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:56.799 his involvement in sports because this seems 00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:59.039 like it's a real passion project for him. It's 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:02.539 not just business. It absolutely is. The Snoop 00:23:02.539 --> 00:23:04.960 Youth Football League, which he founded way back 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.599 in 2005. This isn't just a celebrity slapping 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:10.440 their name on a jersey and writing a check. No, 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:12.980 he coaches. He coaches. He's on the sidelines. 00:23:12.980 --> 00:23:16.019 He's involved. It's for at -risk youth. And it 00:23:16.019 --> 00:23:18.259 has actually produced a number of NFL players. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:21.920 Guys like C .J. Stroud and Jack Jones came through 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:23.680 his league. There's a documentary about it, right? 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:25.880 Coach Snoop. Yeah, and it's great. It shows how 00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:28.180 deeply he cares about these kids. He's screaming 00:23:28.180 --> 00:23:31.140 at the refs. He's hugging his players. He is 00:23:31.140 --> 00:23:34.619 fully 100 % invested. And then you fast forward 00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:37.799 to him at the Paris 2024 Olympics. He was just 00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:40.079 everywhere. He carried the Olympic torch. He 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.259 was doing commentary. He was basically the American 00:23:42.259 --> 00:23:45.019 ambassador of good vibes for the entire game. 00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:47.339 And he was inducted into the celebrity wing of 00:23:47.339 --> 00:23:50.170 the WWE. Hall of Fame in 2016. He even had to 00:23:50.170 --> 00:23:52.809 step in and save a match at WrestleMania 39. 00:23:53.029 --> 00:23:55.089 I remember seeing this. Shane McMahon tore his 00:23:55.089 --> 00:23:58.029 quad muscle mid -match. Totally unscripted injury. 00:23:58.190 --> 00:24:01.009 The whole segment was about to die. And Snoop 00:24:01.009 --> 00:24:04.670 just, he improvises. He gets in the ring, throws 00:24:04.670 --> 00:24:07.589 a punch, does a people's elbow, and pins the 00:24:07.589 --> 00:24:09.369 other guy to finish the match. That just sums 00:24:09.369 --> 00:24:11.549 him up perfectly, doesn't it? He just improvises 00:24:11.549 --> 00:24:14.759 and somehow always wins. Precisely, yeah. Okay, 00:24:14.779 --> 00:24:16.720 now, we need to peel back the curtain a little 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:20.059 bit on his personal life. Because for all the 00:24:20.059 --> 00:24:22.660 fame and all the chaos, he's managed to keep 00:24:22.660 --> 00:24:26.240 a somewhat stable, albeit complex, family life 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:28.460 going. He married his high school sweetheart, 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:32.319 Shante Taylor, way back in 1997. And in the world 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:34.299 of entertainment, marrying your high school sweetheart 00:24:34.299 --> 00:24:37.200 is incredibly rare. Staying married is even rarer. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.470 Well, it wasn't a completely straight line. He 00:24:39.470 --> 00:24:42.930 actually filed for divorce in 2004, citing irreconcilable 00:24:42.930 --> 00:24:44.890 differences. But they never went through with 00:24:44.890 --> 00:24:47.690 it. They reconciled and they renewed their wedding 00:24:47.690 --> 00:24:50.789 vows in 2008 on a ranch. They have three children 00:24:50.789 --> 00:24:53.150 together and he has another son from a different 00:24:53.150 --> 00:24:55.589 relationship. Right. And they've also faced real 00:24:55.589 --> 00:24:59.170 tragedy together publicly. In 2019, his grandson, 00:24:59.549 --> 00:25:02.029 this is his eldest son, Cordae's child, died 00:25:02.029 --> 00:25:04.930 just 10 days after he was born. And it was a 00:25:04.930 --> 00:25:07.920 moment where we saw a very vulnerable. very human, 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:10.440 grieving side of the family, kind of grounded 00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:12.700 the larger -than -life character of Snoop Dogg 00:25:12.700 --> 00:25:14.960 back into the reality of just being a grandfather. 00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:17.400 He also has some surprising family connections 00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:18.940 within the entertainment industry. We already 00:25:18.940 --> 00:25:21.039 mentioned Jeet Dogg being his cousin and Warren 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:23.480 G being his stepbrother, but he's also first 00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:26.460 cousins with the WWE superstar Mercedes Monáe, 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:29.400 who used to be Sasha Banks. I did not know that. 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:32.220 And he claims to be related to the singers Brandi 00:25:32.220 --> 00:25:34.819 and Ray J, though Brandi has been a little bit 00:25:34.819 --> 00:25:36.819 vague about confirming that one over the years. 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:38.559 the years. Let's talk about the elephant in the 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:41.720 room. Or maybe it's the cloud in the room. Cannabis. 00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:44.740 It is his trademark. It's as much a part of his 00:25:44.740 --> 00:25:47.400 brand as the braids. He once claimed in a Reddit 00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:52.119 AMA session that he smoked 81 blunts a day. 81. 00:25:52.380 --> 00:25:54.500 How is that even physically possible? How do 00:25:54.500 --> 00:25:56.640 you function? That's basically a blunt every 00:25:56.640 --> 00:25:59.160 12 minutes if you never, ever sleep. A very high 00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:02.079 tolerance, I assume. But he's also a master of 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:05.019 using that reputation for marketing. Which brings 00:26:05.019 --> 00:26:09.359 us to 2023. The announcement. He releases this 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:11.380 very solemn black and white photo of himself 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:13.920 and a statement on social media that just says, 00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:16.539 after much consideration and conversation with 00:26:16.539 --> 00:26:19.200 my family, I've decided to give up smoke. And 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.380 the entire internet melted down. People were 00:26:21.380 --> 00:26:23.660 losing their minds. They were like, if Snoop 00:26:23.660 --> 00:26:25.960 quits weed, the simulation is officially broken. 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:28.099 And then a day or two later, it was revealed 00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:30.119 to be a commercial for a smokeless fire pit. 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:33.299 The solo stove. It was a brilliant piece of trolling. 00:26:33.789 --> 00:26:36.630 Absolutely genius. He really was. But his cannabis 00:26:36.630 --> 00:26:39.730 use has had very real consequences over the years, 00:26:39.769 --> 00:26:41.710 especially internationally. Right. He was banned 00:26:41.710 --> 00:26:43.670 from a few countries. He was banned from entering 00:26:43.670 --> 00:26:46.690 the UK for years after a big brawl at Heathrow 00:26:46.690 --> 00:26:49.309 Airport in 2006. He was banned from entering 00:26:49.309 --> 00:26:52.109 Australia in 2007. He got a two -year ban from 00:26:52.109 --> 00:26:55.430 Norway in 2012 after customs agents found him 00:26:55.430 --> 00:26:57.750 with eight grams of marijuana. It's kind of funny 00:26:57.750 --> 00:26:59.710 now in retrospect, but being banned from entire 00:26:59.710 --> 00:27:02.049 countries is a serious problem for a touring 00:27:02.049 --> 00:27:05.079 artist. It's a huge impediment. But even most 00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:08.019 of those bans have since been lifted. He's been 00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:10.539 welcomed back to the UK, and according to Snoop's 00:27:10.539 --> 00:27:12.859 version of the story, it was because Prince Harry 00:27:12.859 --> 00:27:15.400 and Prince William were fans, and the Queen herself 00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:18.259 granted him permission. I want to believe that's 00:27:18.259 --> 00:27:20.279 exactly how it happened. Grandmother, please 00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:23.119 let the dog father into the country. His retelling 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:25.660 of it is certainly very colorful. One area where 00:27:25.660 --> 00:27:28.420 he is surprisingly difficult to pin down is politics. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:31.700 You'd expect him, based on his image, to be firmly 00:27:31.700 --> 00:27:34.000 on one side, but his record is it's very fluid. 00:27:34.339 --> 00:27:37.380 Fluid is the perfect word for it. In 2012, for 00:27:37.380 --> 00:27:39.279 example, he endorsed Ron Paul for president. 00:27:39.420 --> 00:27:41.500 The libertarian Republican. That's not what I 00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:43.480 would have expected. No one expected it. Then 00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:46.660 he voted for Obama. In 2016, he was a vocal supporter 00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:49.720 of Hillary Clinton. But then, look at his relationship 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:51.980 with Donald Trump. Yeah, that has been a complete 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:56.079 roller coaster. A wild ride. In 2017, Snoop released 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:58.700 a music video for the song Lavender, where he 00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:01.460 pointed a toy gun at a clown dressed up as Donald 00:28:01.460 --> 00:28:04.579 Trump. It was a mock execution. And Trump was 00:28:04.579 --> 00:28:07.119 furious. Trump was furious. He tweeted about 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:10.000 failing Snoop Dogg and his failing career. It 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:13.059 was a genuine public feud. But then something 00:28:13.059 --> 00:28:16.559 changed. Fast forward to early 2024. Snoop goes 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:18.680 on record saying he has nothing but love and 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:21.200 respect for Donald Trump. And just this year. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:25.299 In 2025, he performed at a Trump -sponsored crypto 00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:28.339 event. So what explains the complete 180? Why 00:28:28.339 --> 00:28:30.640 the flip? The common speculation is that it was 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.400 because Trump, before leaving office, granted 00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:35.579 a pardon to the co -founder of Death Row Records, 00:28:35.859 --> 00:28:38.900 Michael Herriot Harris. And Snoop had lobbied 00:28:38.900 --> 00:28:42.119 very, very hard for that pardon. It seems to 00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:44.220 show that Snoop's politics are often personal 00:28:44.220 --> 00:28:47.029 and transactional. rather than being purely ideological. 00:28:47.529 --> 00:28:49.849 It's about loyalty to his circle, to his people. 00:28:49.950 --> 00:28:51.690 He does have a strong activist streak, though, 00:28:51.730 --> 00:28:53.730 on certain issues. He does, and he has for a 00:28:53.730 --> 00:28:56.369 while. He advocated for same -sex marriage way 00:28:56.369 --> 00:28:58.690 back in 2013, which was not a given in the hip 00:28:58.690 --> 00:29:01.609 -hop culture of the time. In 2016, he co -led 00:29:01.609 --> 00:29:04.549 a peaceful march to the LAPD headquarters with 00:29:04.549 --> 00:29:06.930 The Game, following the police shootings in Dallas. 00:29:07.190 --> 00:29:09.309 And what about gun control? Despite his own past 00:29:09.309 --> 00:29:12.130 gun charges, he has been a surprisingly consistent 00:29:12.130 --> 00:29:15.519 voice for tighter gun control. He even released 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.059 a song about it with his daughter called No Guns 00:29:18.059 --> 00:29:20.680 Allowed. It's that complexity again, isn't it? 00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:23.259 The guy with the famous gun charge from the 90s 00:29:23.259 --> 00:29:25.519 singing No Guns Allowed. The guy who mocked a 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:27.720 president performing at his gala years later. 00:29:27.880 --> 00:29:30.640 He contains multitudes, as they say. So let's 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:32.859 try to bring all of this together. We've gone 00:29:32.859 --> 00:29:35.519 from the streets of Long Beach to the boardroom, 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:38.480 from a first degree murder trial to the Olympics. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:41.420 It's a trajectory that is almost unique in American 00:29:41.420 --> 00:29:43.549 public life. I can't think of a direct comparison. 00:29:43.990 --> 00:29:47.049 He started as a gangster rap lightning rod. He 00:29:47.049 --> 00:29:49.130 was a symbol of everything that mainstream America 00:29:49.130 --> 00:29:51.750 feared in the early 90s. And he somehow ended 00:29:51.750 --> 00:29:55.390 up as this beloved, cuddly national mascot. How 00:29:55.390 --> 00:29:57.450 does he stay so relevant? I mean, most rappers 00:29:57.450 --> 00:29:59.670 from 1993 are either retired or they're playing 00:29:59.670 --> 00:30:02.809 state fairs. Snoop is arguably more famous and 00:30:02.809 --> 00:30:04.970 more visible now than he was even then. It's 00:30:04.970 --> 00:30:08.819 one word. Adaptation. He never, ever fought the 00:30:08.819 --> 00:30:11.740 cultural current. When G -Funk started to fade, 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:14.440 he went to no limit. When pop music took over 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:17.259 the charts, he did a song with Katy Perry. When 00:30:17.259 --> 00:30:19.700 social media exploded, he became a meme king. 00:30:19.940 --> 00:30:23.339 He gets it. He realizes that Snoop Dogg is a 00:30:23.339 --> 00:30:26.220 feeling, it's a vibe, more than it is just a 00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:29.259 musician. He's charismatic, he's funny, and he 00:30:29.259 --> 00:30:32.059 somehow feels authentic, even when he is, by 00:30:32.059 --> 00:30:34.819 any definition, selling out. He became the cool 00:30:34.819 --> 00:30:37.079 uncle everyone wants to hang out with. Exactly. 00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:39.220 He made himself completely approachable without 00:30:39.220 --> 00:30:42.119 ever losing his core sense of cool. It's a magic 00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:44.140 trick. So, OK, here's the final thought I want 00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:46.279 to leave everyone with. Snoop has successfully 00:30:46.279 --> 00:30:49.019 and brilliantly monetized every single aspect 00:30:49.019 --> 00:30:51.519 of his life. His criminal past became a movie 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:53.680 and a soundtrack. His love of weed became a venture 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:56.240 capital portfolio. His role as a father became 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:59.319 a reality TV show. His ability to cook became 00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:01.660 a book and a TV show with Martha Stewart. Every 00:31:01.660 --> 00:31:04.859 part of his persona is a product. So, does his 00:31:04.859 --> 00:31:07.680 evolution represent the ultimate triumph of personal 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:11.079 branding, where the personality actually supersedes 00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:15.059 the art itself? Is Snoop Dogg the person now 00:31:15.059 --> 00:31:18.220 a bigger, more valuable product than Snoop Dogg 00:31:18.220 --> 00:31:20.579 the rapper? It's a fascinating question, and 00:31:20.579 --> 00:31:22.759 I think it's the core of his whole story. When 00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:25.579 you buy a ticket to see him live now, or you 00:31:25.579 --> 00:31:27.660 buy a bottle of his wine, are you doing it for 00:31:27.660 --> 00:31:29.660 the artistry of the music, or are you doing it 00:31:29.660 --> 00:31:32.079 just to be in the orbit of the dog father? For 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:34.500 most people now, we know the answer. The man 00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:36.380 became the myth and then the myth became the 00:31:36.380 --> 00:31:38.119 business. And on that note, we're going to wrap 00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:40.099 up this deep dive. Thanks for listening and keep 00:31:40.099 --> 00:31:41.779 it smooth. Stay curious, everybody.