Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg (real name: Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr., 1971-) is an American rapper and record producer. One of Dr. Dre's most popular discoveries, Snoop Dogg is known for championing marijuana and lyrics featuring over-the-top glorification of gang life and violence; he is credited for popularizing the slang "izzle", I.E. "fo' shizzle my nizzle" (the term was introduced to hip hop music by E-40, however). His stage name comes from a nickname used by his parents, because he resembled the dog Snoopy from Peanuts.
Snoop made a huge impact on Hip Hop fans as a contributor to Dre's classic album The Chronic, and soon released his debut solo album Doggystyle. After being cleared of charges over his bodyguard's 1993 murder of Philip Woldemariam, he switched from Death Row to No Limit Records in 1996, then to Priority in 2002, and Geffen in 2004. Between 2003 and 2004, he actually was a professional pimp, and this persona carried over to his music persona. In 2009, Snoop became chairman of Priority Records.
In film, he had starring roles in Bones, Starsky and Hutch and Hood of Horror, as well as cameos in assorted TV shows (including King of the Hill, Monk, The Boondocks, Weeds, and Futurama) and other movies. He also directed four pornographic movies and a Girls Gone Wild video.
He collaborated on the Plastic Beach album. The entire first track is just him doing a slow rap over an uncharacteristically slow brass band track. Very nice.
Snoop can also be found in Katy Perry's song "California Gurls"; in the music video, he leads an army of gummy bears (as The Rap Critic points out in his review of the song).
- As Himself: In Old School, Weeds, Bruno and Futurama. Most of his characters in film and TV are also very close to his real life and music persona.
- Auto-Tune: In "Sexual Eruption".
- Country Rap: The song "My Medicine", produced by Everlast, and featuring Willie Nelson. More recently, a straight-up Country Song, "Superman" (with both Willie and Snoop singing, and Willie playing guitar/harmonica) appeared on his album, Doggumentary.
- Deal with the Devil: In "Murder Was the Case".
- Filk Song: "Oh Sookie", written for the character in True Blood.
- Gangsta Rap: The Type 3 variety. It helps that Mr. Broadus Jr. is a Crip.
- Horrorcore: A few of his songs border on this, and he has even recorded out-and-out horror-oriented songs, including "Murder Was the Case", where he dies and is brought back to life by Satan, and the Bones and Hood of Horror soundtracks.
- I Have Many Names: His full stage name was originally Snoop Doggy Dogg, and he is credited as Snoop Scorsese for directing one of his porno movies (Michael Corleone is another porn directing alias). "Snoop" is also easier than calling him Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr.
- Lighter and Softer: After the controversial Doggystyle, Snoop toned it down a bit for his next album, Tha Doggfather, saying that he wanted to appeal to a wider audience and have a more positive image. Sadly, Doggfather is considered the inferior album by far.
- In regards to his overall image, he zig-zags through both. He still plays up the thug image and he's usually portrayed as having a huge smoke cloud hanging over his head wherever he goes, but at the same time, he's started coaching a little league football team and appeared on Big Time Rush, a Nickelodeon kid's show. It's really amazing that he's able to balance the two at all.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: He embraces the "thuggish" persona associated with the rap industry and even promoted a series of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos, but has also done extensive charity work (organizing football leagues for kids) and has appeared on several kids shows like Big Time Rush (where he helped the main characters with their problem and was hurrying home to spend Christmas with his Grandma). When asked about his... "eclectic" choices of sponsorship he said that there was nothing wrong with promoting something for adults and something for the kids too.
- Mind Screw: Snoop leading an army of gummy bears in a Katy Perry music video.
- Money, Dear Boy: Accused of this, for... shall we say... the range of his resume.
- The Movie: Murder Was the Case, an expansion of his song of the same name.
- Rap Metal: His take on Metallica's "Sad But True".
- Rated "G" for Gangsta: He's been in a few movies aimed at younger audiences, and was actually cut out of a Muppet movie because of his pornographic video release.
- Soul Brotha
- The Stoner: Especially notable since he makes absolutely no effort to hide it, and for the most part really doesn't seem to care.
- Wolverine Publicity: Very guilty of this. Snoop is one of the most heavily-featured rap artists ever.