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snoop dogg
Laid-back rapper Snoop Dogg followed in the footsteps of such
West Coast colleagues as Ice Cube and Ice-T, and added acting
to his repertoire in the late '90s.
Raised in Long Beach and nicknamed Snoop due to his resemblance
to Peanuts' top canine, Snoop Dogg's troubled teen years culminated
in a drug conviction after high school. After he got out of prison,
Snoop Dogg turned to rap and soon captured the attention of star
producer/rapper Dr. Dre. Introduced on Dr. Dre's seminal album
The Chronic (1992), Snoop Dogg's smooth low-key style and lyrical
authenticity turned him into one of gangster rap's stars, culminating
with the release of his own top-selling, Grammy-nominated debut
album Doggystyle (1993). Snoop Dogg's street cred, however, proved
too negatively authentic when his involvement in a drive-by shooting
led to a murder charge that same year. Battling the charge through
the mid-'90s, Snoop Dogg was cleared in 1996, but his record sales
waned along with gangster rap's popularity.
Still a notable music celebrity, however, Snoop Dogg branched
out into acting with a cameo appearance in the stoner comedy Half
Baked (1998). Staying true to his urban persona, Snoop Dogg appeared
in L.A. crime drama Caught Up (1998) (as Kool Kitty Kat) and Master
P's coming-of-age story Hot Boyz (1999), and co-starred with Ice-T
in action movies The Wrecking Crew (1999) and Urban Menace (1999).
Increasingly comfortable as an actor, Snoop Dogg subsequently
took on roles in several prominent 2001 releases. Trying comedy,
Snoop Dogg co-starred with Dr. Dre as friends and car wash employees
in The Wash (2001). Though John Singleton's Baby Boy (2001) failed
to live up to antecedent Boyz 'N the Hood (1991), Snoop Dogg was
convincing as the neighborhood troublemaker. After a cameo as
a drug dealer paralyzed by Denzel Washington's corrupt cop in
Training Day (2001), Snoop Dogg moved to his first solo starring
role in the horror movie Bones (2001). As a murdered 1970s superfly
community pillar-turned-ghostly avenger, Snoop Dogg earned kudos
for his assured, menacing performance.
Despite claims that his legal problems were over, Snoop Dogg
was busted for marijuana possession during his Puff, Puff, Pass
tour in October 2001.
2003 marked the release of Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, which featured
Snoop Dogg changing his role from gangster to prankster in a series
of sketch comedy bits and various on-the-street disguises. Despite
its popularity, Snoop's busy schedule prevented the show for lasting
more than two seasons, though it helped reestablish the market
for smart, African-American satire, which had been left largely
unfulfilled since the cancellation of The Chris Rock Show. Luckily,
Dave Chappelle proved a more than worthy successor to Snoop Dogg
in that area, leaving the rapper more than enough time to make
a cameo as himself in Old School (2003), as well as continue his
contributions to the infamous Girls Gone Wild series, and thoroughly
overuse the never-quite-hip slang suffix "izzle." In
2004, Snoop played informant to Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson's
Starsky & Hutch, as well as co-starred in director Jessy Terrero's
Soul Plane.
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