New Again: Snoop Dogg

ABOVE: SNOOP DOGG WITH HIS SON, CORDE.

It must be difficult to think of new and exciting career ventures when you are Snoop Dogg. Already a rapper, actor, producer, philanthropist, Little League football coach, porn film director (Snoop Scorsese), clothing designer, candy maker, author; what else is left? The ever-inventive Snoop has found a new money-making, marijuna-motivated, creative outlet—publishing a book of his lyrics made entirely of rolling papers from Snoop’s new rolling paper line, “Kingsize Slim Rolling Papers” and hemp, with a match strip on the spine entitled Rolling Words: A Smokable Songbook. We suppose there’s no better way to re-use, recycle and reduce than by smoking some Snoop Dogg lyrics post-bedtime read.

We’ve spoken with D-o-double-g quite a few times, but we thought we’d revisit this interview between the entrepreneur-rapper and Adam Sandler. In it, Snoop confesses that it his 12th consecutive rolling-free day—the longest time he’s ever gone without smoking some “herb” in a decade. Judging from his newest venture (and his various arrests since 2002), we’re guessing that this teetotal period did not last much longer than 12 days.

Snoop Dogg
by Adam Sandler

If there is one motto Snoop Dog has learned in more than a decade in rap, it is “do unto others.” After breaking out of Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic to personify the gangsta rap sound of the of the early ’90s, the hit—and headline—maker is now mirroring his old mentor’s supporting role, with Welcome to Tha House, Vol. 1. The disc, the first from his label, Doggystyle Records, is an opening act for Snoop’s Doggystyle All-Stars—headed by rappers E-White and Mr. Kane, producer-rapper Soopafly and songstress LaToiya Williams, who will all release their own CDs in the coming year. Snoop’s own album, Paid tha Cost to Be Da Boss (Priority/Capitol), hits this month.

ADAM SANDLER: All right, Snoop. I have been wearing your clothes [Snoop’s new fashion label, Snoop Dogg Clothing].

SNOOP DOGG: I know, people are telling me.

SANDLER: Every time I walk around in your shorts, I hear, “Nice shorts.” [Dogg laughs] You know, they are the only shorts I got with no zipper and I still can pull them down quickly to take a piss. [both laugh] All right, let me get this rocking. What have you got planned for tonight?

SNOOP: Oh, you know, my 8-year-old son’s playing tackle football now and they made me the wide receiver coach.

SANDLER: Get out of here! How is he playing?

SNOOP: Man, he’s doing real good. He’s playing quarterback. This is his first year.

SANDLER: [laughs] Well, tell him good luck. Now, I got some of these questions. They are a little buffoonish …

SNOOP: [laughs] Let’s do it!

SANDLER: OK, if Deuce Bigalow wanted to be in a porno that your company produces, what kind of bank would he be worth?

SNOOP: He’d probably be worth anywhere between $100 and $250. And I’d put him in my new porno movie I got called Hairy Potter.

SANDLER: [laughs] That’s a good one. Do you go down to watch the pornos being shot?

SNOOP: Yeah, actually I shot one—Diary of a Pimp—I was right on the set. Last year I got two Adult Video News Awards.

SANDLER: That’s great, Snoop. Congratulations!

SNOOP: Well, thank you. Snoop Scorsese, that’s my director name.

SANDLER: I love it. Let’s talk about the label, Doggystyle Records, for a second. What’s the main focus of the label going to be?

SNOOP: Basically, just to give back the opportunity I was given—you know, seek and find new talent. It feels good to give it back.

SANDLER: That’s why you’re the man, Snoop. Who is the craziest out of the All-Star crew?

SNOOP: That would have to be my artist Mr. Kane. He’s bananas. He brings a George Clinton, off-the-wall rap. He’s saying some the craziest shit that you wouldn’t even imagine.

SANDLER: Have you ever seen any of the All-Stars freestyling while you’re laying something down and they can’t come up with a rhyme so they pretend that the microphone’s broken? [both laugh]

SNOOP: Probably E-White. He’d do that. He is like our hip-hop rapper. We do gangsta rap too, but he’s the one who is more on the hip-hop tip.

SANDLER: Well, tell E-White I’ve been there. And all these guys who are on your record are going to make solo records …

SNOOP: Oh yeah, the All-Star record is just featuring them so people can hear what they are all about, so when they do come up with their solo records, people will be like, “Damn, I’ve been waiting on his record.”

SANDLER: OK, here’s another one. Did you ever fake sick when you were a kid so you could stay home with your mother and watch The Price is Right?

SNOOP: Not The Price is Right; I’d stay home and watch Heckle and Jeckle or Popeye. They were my favorites, man. I would be in my room sleeping. Moms would come check on me, but as soon as she’d go back into her room I’d turn the TV on, but turn it down real lightly. One of them old TVs where you gotta turn the channel with your hand. One of them had a set of pliers on it.

SANDLER: [laughs] Your children will never know about that, will they, Snoop?

SNOOP: No. They’re too advanced. When they’re lying in their beds they can turn the channel.

SANDLER: I know. Are we nervous for our children of today that they don’t have to get up to change the channel?

SNOOP: Man, they’ve got a lot of shit they’re getting away with right now.

SANDLER: [laughs] How do we make sure they get some value in their life?

SNOOP: Well, you’ve got to instill the same values that were put into you, but not be so disciplinary—I feel like my conversation means more to them than actually whacking them.

SANDLER: And you got how many kids?

SNOOP: I got three kids. Two boys and a girl.

SANDLER: That’s the best, Snoop. OK, what is your dentist’s name and how did you choose him?

SNOOP: His name is Dr. Cunning. And I chose him because he pulled out my wisdom teeth and the shit didn’t hurt.

SANDLER: How many days did you have to lay low?

SNOOP: About four or five days. But I was still smoking through my nose and having people blow smoke around me. [both laugh]

SANDLER: Do you know the longest amount of time you’ve gone without smoking herb?

SNOOP: Can I tell you, Adam? Today is my 12th day without smoking.

SANDLER: Congratulations. 12 days, that’s big.

SNOOP: Man, I’ve been 10 years straight, every day of my life, so the 12 days feel like 12 years.

SANDLER: Holy shit, Snoop. I’m happy for you.

SNOOP: Thank you.

SANDLER: So, where did you record the album?

SNOOP: In my house. I’ve also got a studio called the Chuuch, in Diamond Bar, California, where I actually put it together from top to bottom.

SANDLER: I think I saw one time that you’ve got a court in the back?

SNOOP: Yeah, with the Lakers on the ground.

SANDLER: Do you guys ever leave the studio and say, “We gotta ball?”

SNOOP: Yeah, all the time. And we just won my first celebrity basketball game at Long Beach Poly Tech that we had for my little charity.

SANDLER: What’s the charity called?

SNOOP: Snoop Save a Life. It’s a non-profit organization, where I go out and get the kids away from gang-banging. I show them that if I can come out of that situation, they can too.

 

 THIS INTERVIEW ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE NOVEMBER 2002 ISSUE OF INTERVIEW.

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