Snoop Dogg might be the most chilled out names in showbiz – and it’s not difficult to guess why.
But the rapper, who is celebrating his 52nd birthday (October 20), has become incredibly successful in the music industry. And he’s picked up plenty of stories along the way.
The star was born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr but his mum nicknamed him Snoopy, due to his love and likeness to the cartoon dog, in his childhood. The name obviously evolved and stuck into his professional career.
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He’s also been known by a few other names during his time. In the past, he has gone by Snoop Doggy Dogg and Snoop Lion.
But a few name changes aren’t the wildest thing about him. As he celebrates his birthday, Daily Star is taking a look.
Banned from Norway
(Image: Getty Images)
In 2012, Snoop was banned from entering Norway for two years after he was caught by police when trying to enter the country whilst having cannabis on him. He was then held at Kjevik Airport when customs officials found he was carrying eight grams of marijuana.
The star was on his way to Norway’s Hove Festival to perform at the time. His lawyer said the rapper had no plans to appeal against the ban and that his client could “live with the decision”.
Famous family
(Image: FilmMagic, Inc)
The music legend has a lot of famous friends in the business but also some well-known relatives. At the beginning of his career, Snoop and his cousin Daz Dillinger rose to fame together as they were both at the helm of Death Row Records in the 1990s.
He also has other musical links as he is related to famous siblings Brandy and Ray J Norwood. The brother and sister have followed a similar path with their older cousin and Brandy even collaborated with him on his track titled Special.
However, fans may also be familiar with Ray J, after he hit the headlines with his ex-partner and reality TV royalty Kim Kardashian when their sex tape went viral.
Murder case
(Image: Michael Ochs Archives)
In 1993, Snoop was arrested on murder charges while working on Doggystyle in August 1993. He was accused of driving to a park in the Palms district of Los Angeles, where his bodyguard, McKinley Lee, allegedly shot and killed Philip Woldermariam. Philip had reportedly been a member of a rival gang called the By Yerself Hustlers.
Around the time of the case, in May 1994, the rapper welcomed his first son Cordé with Shante Taylor. Snoop was later acquitted of the murder charge in February 1996. He has since spoke openly about the incident and declared he wrote about a similar thing happening to him, within his lyrics for Murder Was the Case.
Snoop said: “My peers, we wrote about death. You see, and I wrote that song Murder Was the Case where I was like, ‘I came when my booboo’s ‘bout to have my baby.’ She wasn’t even pregnant, and I hadn’t even caught the murder case. That’s the f***ing crazy part about it.
“He was born May 20th, right? 1994. The murder case was in August of 1993. So I wrote Murder Was the Case about some s*** that had never happened in my life. I didn’t have a baby. I didn’t have a murder case, but my penmanship was writing shit that was about to happen.”
Snoop and his bodyguard were later acquitted of the charges on February 20, 1996.
Hiring a blunt roller
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
The US rapper is infamously known for “smoking weed every day” and to “save him time” took on an employee to produce perfectly rolled joints after saying he didn’t have the time to do it himself.
Last year, Snoop responded to a tweet that suggested that his blunt roller earns quite a decent salary. It claimed they raked in between $40,000 and $50,000 (£32,000 and £40,000), though he set the record straight himself and said their salary “went up”. The star shared the tweet and wrote: “Inflation. Their salary went up!”
He first announced he had a blunt roller on the Howard Stern Show in 2019. When the host asked: “Is this a guy that is specifically hired by you?” Snoop replied: “That’s his J-O-B – his occupation. On his resume, it says, ‘What do you do? I’m a blunt roller. P-B-R, professional blunt roller. If you’re great at something I need, I’m hiring you.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
