Snoop Dogg, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Snoop Lion, or Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. as his dentist knows him, has had a very eventful life. Not forgetting his 30 million albums sold worldwide, his adventures include countless possession of firearms, deadly weapons and drugs. This year, he adds headlining Bestival to that list.
Snoop criticises other rappers and hip-hop artists who superficially adopted the pimp persona. Mr Doggy Dogg actually was a professional pimp in 2003 and 2004, saying:
That shit was my natural calling and once I got involved with it, it became fun. It was like shootin’ layups for me. I was makin’ ’em every time.
Now however, he leads a much more relaxed lifestyle. Despite having given up marijuana in 2002 (presumably to concentrate on pimping) this year he claimed to be smoking approximately 80 blunts a day. He’s a family man who coaches his son’s Football team.
This year at Bestival, Saturday night is a celebration of all things hip hop and who better to take centre stage and headline proceedings than the Doggfather himself. Snoop has been at the heart of hip hop since the multi platinum phenomenon that was his debut album ‘Doggystyle’ way back in 1993.
Backed by Dre, Snoop descended on an unsuspecting musical world, first stop East Coast King, next, top of the pile, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, his rise to the legendary status within the hip hop community and beyond is unprecedented.
The fact that he’s managed to stay there through ten more albums and 2 decades of musical evolution tells you something about the man and his talent, think hip hop, you more than likely think Snoop Dogg, he’s more than iconic, he’s a talisman for all that’s cool and relevant about the last twenty years of urban music, what’s his name? It’s Snoop Dogg.
By Luke Gallimore
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