The Evolution of Snoop Dogg

This feature on the Dr. Dre classic is one of Snoop’s first big hits, but it’s still one of his most popular songs. Those opening notes will immediately take you back to wherever you were in 1993.

A lot of rappers have had big debuts, but none of them have had a rookie season like Snoop. He followed up his guest appearances on Dr. Dre’s classic, “The Chronic” with his solo debut “Doggystyle.” In addition to his undeniable star power, it’s an essential part of hip-hop history, as it helped cement the influence of west coast rap.

When Snoop wrote “Murder Was the Case,” he hadn’t been arrested for murder, nor was he expecting his first son. However, both those things soon changed, forcing the artist to rethink the themes of his music.

“I had learned my lesson from writing ‘Murder Was the Case’ that maybe I shouldn’t be writing about devilish shit like this when I can control the narrative and write about life, living, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told the “Words + Music” podcast. “Hey, how about this song I live to see tomorrow. Not, I see death around the corner. I’m gonna be dead in 10 minutes. No, fuck that. Not this song. I’m living.”

Though Snoop has had his share of legal problems over the years, the most serious came in 1993 when he and a bodyguard named McKinley Lee were arrested on murder charges. According to the Los Angeles Times, the two were acquitted of first- and second-degree murder charges in February 1996. It’s a dark chapter in his life that most fans have seemed to forget about.

There’s something magical that happens when Snoop and Dre collab. It can’t be duplicate or copied. It’s a special SoCal connection. RIP Nate Dogg.

Snoop memorably plays the villain in the cult classic “Baby Boy.” He spends the entire movie making Tyrese’s life miserable, even trying to kill him. If you haven’t seen it, it’s probably playing on BET right now.

The rapper has mostly played exaggerated versions of himself, but a few times he got to stretch his acting muscles, including a small role in the Denzel Washington classic “Training Day.”

He wanted to start his own youth football league to give Black kids more opportunities. It became so much more, launching the careers of future pros like CJ Stroud.

The Long Beach native invited the world to meet his family and see him as a regular dad who gets teased by his kids and wife. The show only ran for two seasons, but it definitely helped show viewers a softer side of the rapper.

In the entertainment world’s most unlikely friendship Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart have found a cute common ground and worked on several projects together.

No one reinvents themselves like ‘Tha Doggfather.” He shocked us all when he decided to release a gospel album.

Bringing things full circle, the artist, who got his start on Death Row Records, acquired the record label.

In one of the most memorable WrestleMania moments in history, after the original opponent in a surprise match against The Miz was injured. Guest announcer Snoop Dogg stepped in to finish the match, hit Miz with a People’s Elbow and get the win.

In his latest movie, the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” artist used his love of football to deliver a modern “Bad News Bears” story.