Grandma’s Stories

Oct 20th “Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper”

Snoop Dogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. (born October 20, 1971 or 1972), best known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper and actor from Long Beach, California. His music career began in 1992, when he was discovered by Dr. Dre of N.W.A and as a result was prominently featured throughout Dr. Dre’s solo debut album, The Chronic (1992). He has since sold over 21 million albums in United States and 35 million albums worldwide.

Snoop’s debut album, Doggystyle, was released in 1993 under Death Row Records, debuting at number one on both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Selling almost a million copies in the first week of its release, Doggystyle became certified 4× platinum in 1994 and spawned several hit singles, including “What’s My Name?” and “Gin & Juice”. In 1994, Snoop released a soundtrack on Death Row Records for the short film Murder Was The Case, starring himself. His second album Tha Doggfather (1996), also debuted at number one on both charts with “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head”, as the lead single. The album was certified double platinum in 1997.

After leaving Death Row, Snoop signed with No Limit Records, where he recorded his next three albums. Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told (1998), No Limit Top Dogg (1999), and Tha Last Meal (2000). Snoop then signed with Priority/Capitol/EMI Records in 2002, where he released Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss. He then signed with Geffen Records in 2004 for his next three albums R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, and Ego Trippin’. Malice ‘n Wonderland (2009) and Doggumentary (2011), were released on Priority. Snoop Dogg has starred in motion pictures and hosted several television shows including, Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood and Dogg After Dark. He also coaches a youth football league and high school football team. In September 2009, Snoop was hired by EMI as the chairman of a reactivated Priority Records.

In 2012, after a trip to Jamaica, Snoop announced a conversion to the Rastafari movement and a new alias, Snoop Lion. Under the new moniker, he released a reggae album, Reincarnated, and a documentary film of the same name, of his Jamaican experience, in early 2013. His thirteenth solo studio album, Bush, was released in May 2015.

Early life

Snoop Dogg was born in Long Beach, California, the second of three sons. He was named Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. after his stepfather, Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Sr. (December 10, 1948 – November 9, 1985, Los Angeles). His mother is Beverly Broadus (née Tate; born April 27, 1951, McComb, Mississippi). His father, Vernall Varnado (born December 13, 1949, Magnolia, Mississippi), was a Vietnam veteran, singer, and mail carrier who was said to be frequently absent from his life. As a boy, his parents nicknamed him “Snoopy” because of his appearance, but they usually addressed him as Calvin at home. His mother and stepfather divorced in 1975.

When he was very young, Broadus began singing and playing piano at the Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church. In sixth grade, he began rapping. He attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School as a member of the class of 1989.

As a teenager, Snoop Dogg frequently ran into trouble with the law. He was a member of the Rollin’ 20 Crips gang in the Eastside of Long Beach, although he stated in 1993 that he never joined a gang. Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine, and for the following three years, was frequently in and out of prison (including Wayside Jail). Snoop, along with his cousins Nate Dogg and Lil’ ½ Dead, and friend Warren G, recorded homemade tapes as a group called 213, named after the Long Beach area code at the time. One of his early solo freestyles over En Vogue’s “Hold On” had made it to a mixtape which was heard by influential producer Dr. Dre, who phoned to invite him to an audition. Former N.W.A member The D.O.C. taught him how to structure his lyrics and separate the thematics into verses, hooks and chorus.

Musical career

1992–97: Death Row, Doggystyle and Tha Doggfather

When he began recording, Broadus took the stage name Snoop Doggy Dogg. Dr. Dre began working with Snoop Dogg, first on the theme song of the 1992 film Deep Cover, and then on Dr. Dre’s debut solo album The Chronic with the other members of his former starting group, Tha Dogg Pound. The huge success of Snoop Dogg’s debut Doggystyle was partially because of this intense exposure.

To fuel the ascendance of West Coast G-funk hip hop, the singles “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” and “Gin and Juice” reached of the top ten most-played songs in the United States, and the album stayed on the Billboard charts for several months. Gangsta rap became the center of arguments for censorship and labeling, with Snoop Dogg often used as an example of violent and misogynistic musicians. Unlike much of the harder-edged gangsta rap artists, Snoop Dogg seemed to show his softer side said music journalist Chuck Philips. In fact, the artist’s favorite track on his 1993 album was a gospel-inspired tribute to his mother called Gangsta Life. “It’s about how my mama raised me and my brothers on her own and how we got caught up on the streets…In the song I give my mama her respect and yet I try to show just what the wages are for kids not paying attention. I ain’t no gospel rap musician, man, but I got faith in what I believe in,” the artist told Philips. Rolling Stone music critic Touré asserted that Snoop had a relatively soft vocal delivery compared to other rappers: “Snoop’s vocal style is part of what distinguishes him: where many rappers scream, figuratively and literally, he speaks softly.” Doggystyle, much like The Chronic, featured a host of rappers signed to or affiliated with the Death Row label including Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and others.

A short film about Snoop Dogg’s murder trial called Murder Was The Case, was released in 1994, along with an accompanying soundtrack. On July 6, 1995, Doggy Style Records, Inc., a record label founded by Snoop Dogg, was registered with the California Secretary of State as business entity number C1923139.

After Snoop Dogg was acquitted of murder charges on February 20, 1996, he and the mother of his son and their kennel of 20 pit bulls moved into a 5,000-square-foot (460 m²) home in the hills of Claremont, California and by August 1996 Doggy Style Records, a subsidiary of Death Row Records, signed The Gap Band’s Charlie Wilson as one of the record label’s first artists.

However, by the time Snoop Dogg’s second album, Tha Doggfather, was released in November 1996, the price of living (or sometimes just imitating) the gangsta life had become very evident. Among the many notable hip hop industry deaths and convictions were the death of Snoop Dogg’s friend and labelmate Tupac Shakur and the racketeering indictment of Death Row co-founder Suge Knight. Dr. Dre had left Death Row earlier in 1996 because of a contract dispute, so Snoop Dogg co-produced Tha Doggfather with Daz Dillinger and DJ Pooh.

This album featured a distinct change of style as compared to Doggystyle, and the leadoff single, “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head”, featured a collaboration with Gap Band frontman Charlie Wilson. While the album sold reasonably well, it was not as successful as its predecessor. However, Tha Doggfather had a somewhat softer approach to the G-funk style. The immediate aftermath of Dr. Dre’s withdrawal from Death Row Records, realizing that he was subject to an iron-clad time-based contract (i.e., that Death Row practically owned anything he produced for a number of years), Snoop Dogg refused to produce any more tracks for Suge Knight, other than the insulting “Fuck Death Row”, until his contract expired. In an interview with Neil Strauss in 1998, Snoop Dogg stated that though he had been given lavish gifts by his former label they had withheld royalty payments to the artist.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that after Tha Doggfather, Snoop Dogg began “moving away from his gangsta roots toward a calmer lyrical aesthetic”: for instance, Snoop participated in the 1997 Lollapalooza concert tour, which featured mainly alternative rock music. Troy J. Augusto of Variety noticed that Snoop’s set at Lollapalooza attracted “much dancing, and, strangely, even a small mosh pit” in the audience.

1998–2006: Signing with No Limit and continued success

Snoop signed with Master P’s No Limit Records (distributed by Priority/EMI Records) in 1998 and debuted on the label with Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told that year. His other albums from No Limit were No Limit Top Dogg in 1999 (selling over 1,503,865 copies) and Tha Last Meal in 2000 (selling over 1,000,000). In 2001, his autobiography, Tha Doggfather, was published.

In 2002, he released the album Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$, on Priority/Capitol/EMI, selling over 1,300,000 copies. The album featured the hit singles “From tha Chuuuch to da Palace” and “Beautiful”, featuring guest vocals by Pharrell. By this stage in his career, Snoop Dogg had left behind his “gangster” image and embraced a “pimp” image.

In 2004, Snoop signed to Geffen Records/Star Trak Entertainment both of which are distributed through Interscope Records; Star Trak is headed by producer duo The Neptunes, which produced several tracks for Snoop’s 2004 release R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece. “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (featuring Pharrell), the first single released from the album, was a hit and became Snoop Dogg’s first single to reach number one. His third release was “Signs”, featuring Justin Timberlake and Charlie Wilson, which entered the UK chart at No. 2. This was his highest entry ever in the UK chart. The album sold 1,724,000 copies in the U.S. alone, and most of its singles were heavily played on radio and television. Snoop Dogg joined Warren G and Nate Dogg to form the group 213 and released album The Hard Way in 2004. Debuting at No.4 on the Billboard 200 and No.1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, it included single “Groupie Luv”. Snoop Dogg appeared in the music video for Korn’s “Twisted Transistor”, along with fellow rappers Lil Jon, Xzibit and David Banner,

Snoop Dogg’s appeared on two tracks from Ice Cube’s 2006 album Laugh Now, Cry Later, including the single “Go to Church”, and on several tracks on Tha Dogg Pound’s Cali Iz Active the same year. Also, his latest song, “Real Talk”, was leaked over the Internet in the summer of 2006 and a video was later released on the Internet. “Real Talk” was a dedication to former Crips leader Stanley “Tookie” Williams and a diss to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California. Two other singles on which Snoop made a guest performance were “Keep Bouncing” by Too $hort (also with will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas) and “Gangsta Walk” by Coolio.

Snoop’s 2006 album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, debuted on the Billboard 200 at No.5 and has sold over 850,000 copies. The album and the second single “That’s That Shit” featuring R. Kelly were well received by critics. In the album, he collaborated in a video with E-40 and other West Coast rappers for his single “Candy (Drippin’ Like Water)”.

2007–12: Ego Trippin’, Malice n Wonderland and Doggumentary

In July 2007, Snoop Dogg made history by becoming the first artist to release a track as a ringtone prior to its release as a single, which was “It’s the D.O.G.”. On July 7, 2007, Snoop Dogg performed at the Live Earth concert, Hamburg. Snoop Dogg has ventured into singing for Bollywood with his first ever rap for an Indian movie Singh Is Kinng; the title of the song is also “Singh is Kinng”. He also appears in the movie as himself. The album featuring the song was released on June 8, 2008 on Junglee Music Records. He released his ninth studio album, Ego Trippin’ (selling 400,000 copies in the US), along with the first single, “Sexual Eruption”. The single peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 100, featuring Snoop using autotune. The album featured production from QDT (Quik-Dogg-Teddy).

Snoop was appointed an executive position at Priority Records. His tenth studio album, Malice n Wonderland, was released on December 8, 2009. The first single from the album, “Gangsta Luv”, featuring The-Dream, peaked at No.35 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album debuted at No.23 on the Billboard 200, selling 61,000 copies its first week, making it his lowest charting album. His third single, “I Wanna Rock”, peaked at No.41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The fourth single from Malice n Wonderland, titled “Pronto”, featuring Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, was released on iTunes on December 1, 2009. Snoop re-released the album under the name More Malice.

Snoop collaborated with Katy Perry on “California Gurls”, the first single from her album Teenage Dream, which was released on May 11, 2010. Snoop can also be heard on the track “Flashing” by Dr. Dre and on Curren$y’s song “Seat Change”. He was also featured on a new single from Australian singer Jessica Mauboy, titled “Get ’em Girls” (released September 2010). Snoop’s latest effort was backing American recording artist, Emii, on her second single entitled “Mr. Romeo” (released October 26, 2010 as a follow-up to “Magic”). Snoop also collaborated with American comedy troupe The Lonely Island in their song “Turtleneck & Chain”, in their 2011 album Turtleneck & Chain.

Snoop Dogg’s eleventh studio album is Doggumentary. The album went through several tentative titles including Doggystyle 2: Tha Doggumentary and Doggumentary Music: 0020 before being released under the final title Doggumentary during March 2011. Snoop was featured on Gorillaz’ latest album Plastic Beach on a track called: “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach” with the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, he also completed another track with them entitled “Sumthing Like This Night” which does not appear on Plastic Beach, yet does appear on Doggumentary. He also appears on the latest Tech N9ne album All 6’s and 7’s (released June 7, 2011) on a track called “Pornographic” which also features E-40 and Krizz Kaliko.

2012–13: Reincarnated and 7 Days of Funk

On February 4, 2012, Snoop Dogg announced a documentary, Reincarnated, alongside his new upcoming studio album entitled Reincarnated. The film was released March 21, 2013 with the album slated for release April 23, 2013. On July 20, 2012, Snoop Dogg released a new reggae single, “La La La” under the pseudonym Snoop Lion. Three other songs were also announced to be on the album, “No Guns Allowed”, “Ashtrays and Heartbreaks”, and “Harder Times”.

On July 31, 2012, Snoop introduced a new stage name, Snoop Lion. He told reporters that he was rechristened Snoop Lion by a Rastafarian priest in Jamaica. In response to Frank Ocean coming out, Snoop said hip hop was ready to accept a gay rapper. Snoop recorded an original song for the 2012 fighting game Tekken Tag Tournament 2, titled “Knocc ‘Em Down”; and makes a special appearance as a non-playable character in “The Snoop Dogg Stage” arena.

In September of the same year, Snoop released a compilation of electronic music entitled Loose Joints under the moniker DJ Snoopadelic, stating the influence of George Clinton’s Funkadelic. In an interview with The Fader magazine, Snoop stated “Snoop Lion, Snoop Dogg, DJ Snoopadelic—they only know one thing: make music that’s timeless and bangs.”

In December 2012, Snoop released his second single from Reincarnated, “Here Comes the King”. It was also announced that Snoop worked a deal with RCA Records to release Reincarnated in early 2013. Also in December 2012, Snoop Dogg released a That’s My Work a collaboration rap mixtape with Tha Dogg Pound.

In an interview with Hip Hop Weekly on June 17, producer Symbolyc One (S1) announced that Snoop was working on his final album under his rap moniker Snoop Dogg; “I’ve been working with Snoop, he’s actually working on his last solo album as Snoop Dogg.” In September 2013 Snoop released a collaboration album with his sons as Tha Broadus Boyz titled Royal Fam. On October 28, 2013, Snoop Dogg release another mixtape entitled That’s My Work 2 hosted by DJ Drama. Snoop formed a funk duo with musician Dâm-Funk called 7 Days of Funk and released their eponymous debut album on December 10, 2013.

2014–present: BUSH

In August 2014, a clip surfaced online featuring a sneak preview of a new song Snoop had recorded for Pharrell, which was released on his new album. Snoop’s Pharrell Williams-produced album BUSH was released on May 12, 2015, with the first single “Peaches N Cream” having been released on March 10, 2015.

Other ventures

Snoop Dogg has appeared in numerous films and television episodes throughout his career. His starring roles in film includes The Wash (with Dr. Dre) and the horror film Bones. He also co-starred with rapper Wiz Khalifa in the 2012 movie Mac and Devin Go to High School which a sequel has been announced. He has had various supporting and cameo roles in film, including Half Baked,Training Day, Starsky & Hutch, and Brüno.

He has starred in three television programs: sketch-comedy show Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, variety show Dogg After Dark, and reality show Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood (also starring Snoop’s wife and children). He has starred in episodes of King of the Hill, Las Vegas, and Monk, one episode of Robot Chicken, as well as three episodes of One Life to Live. He has participated in two Comedy Central Roasts, for Flavor Flav and Donald Trump. Cameo television appearances include episodes of The L Word, Weeds, Entourage, I Get That a Lot, and The Price Is Right. He has also appeared in an episode of the YouTube video series, Epic Rap Battles of History as Moses.

In 2000, Snoop (as “Michael J. Corleone”) directed Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, a pornographic film produced by Hustler. The film, combining hip hop with x-rated material, was a huge success and won “Top Selling Release of the Year” at the 2002 AVN Awards. Snoop then directed Snoop Dogg’s Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp in 2002 (using the nickname “Snoop Scorsese”).

Snoop founded his own production company, Snoopadelic Films, in 2005. Their debut film was Boss’n Up, a film inspired by Snoop Dogg’s album R&G, starring Lil Jon and Trina.

On March 30, 2008 he appeared at WrestleMania XXIV as a Master of Ceremonies for a tag team match between Maria and Ashley Massaro as they took on Beth Phoenix and Melina.

In December 2013, Snoop performed at the annual Kennedy Center Honors concert, honoring jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. After his performance, Snoop credited Hancock with “inventing hip-hop”.

On several occasions, Snoop has appeared at The Players Ball in support of Bishop Don Magic Juan. Juan appeared on Snoop’s videos for “Boss Playa”, “A.D.I.D.A.C.”, “P.I.M.P. (Remix)”, “Nuthin’ Without Me” and “A Pimp’s Christmas Song.”

Style and rap skills

Kool Moe Dee ranks Snoop at No. 33 in his book There’s a God on the Mic, and says he has “an ultra-smooth, laidback delivery”, and “flavor-filled melodic rhyming”. Peter Shapiro describes Snoop’s delivery as a “molasses drawl” and AllMusic notes his “drawled, laconic rhyming” style. Kool Moe Dee refers to Snoop’s use of vocabulary, saying he “keeps it real simple…he simplifies it and he’s effective in his simplicity”.

Snoop is known to freestyle some of his lyrics on the spot for some songs – in the book How to Rap, Lady of Rage says, “Snoop Dogg, when I worked with him earlier in his career, that’s how created his stuff… he would freestyle, he wasn’t a writer then, he was a freestyler,” and The D.O.C. states, “Snoop’s [rap] was a one take willy, but his shit was all freestyle. He hadn’t written nothing down. He just came in and started busting. The song was “Tha Shiznit”—that was all freestyle. He started busting and when we got to the break, Dre cut the machine off, did the chorus and told Snoop to come back in. He did that throughout the record. That’s when Snoop was in the zone then.”

Peter Shapiro says that Snoop debuted on “Deep Cover” with a “shockingly original flow – which sounded like a Slick Rick born in South Carolina instead of South London” and adds that he “showed where his style came from by covering Slick Rick’s ‘La Di Da Di’”. Referring to Snoop’s flow, Kool Moe Dee calls him “one of the smoothest, funkiest flow-ers in the game”. How to Rap also notes that Snoop is known to use syncopation in his flow to give it a laidback quality, as well as ‘linking with rhythm’ in his compound rhymes, using alliteration, and employing a “sparse” flow with good use of pauses.

Snoop re-popularized the use of -izzle speak, particularly in the pop and hip-hop music industry.

Personal life

Broadus’ father left the family when he was three months old. A DNA test read by George Lopez on Lopez Tonight revealed Snoop Dogg to be of 71% African, 23% Native American, and 6% European descent.

Snoop married his high school sweetheart, Shante Taylor, on June 12, 1997. On May 21, 2004, he filed for divorce from Taylor, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple renewed their wedding vows on January 12, 2008. The couple have three children together: sons Cordé (born 1994) and Cordell (born 1997), and daughter Cori (born 1999). He is a first cousin of R&B singers Brandy and Ray J, and WWE professional wrestler Sasha Banks.

Since the start of his career, Snoop has been an avowed cannabis smoker, making it one of the trademarks of his image. In 2002, he announced he was giving up cannabis for good; however, that would not last long and in 2013, he claimed to be smoking approximately 80 cannabis blunts a day. He has been certified for medical cannabis in California to treat migraines since at least 2007.

Snoop claimed in a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone magazine that unlike other hip hop artists who had superficially adopted the pimp persona, he was an actual professional pimp in 2003 and 2004, saying “That shit was my natural calling and once I got involved with it, it became fun. It was like shootin’ layups for me. I was makin’ ’em every time”. He went on to say that upon the advice of some of the other pimps he knew, he eventually gave up pimping to spend more time with his family.

Sports

Snoop is 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) tall and an avid sports fan, including hometown teams Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers and USC Trojans, as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has stated that he began following the Steelers in the 1970s while watching the team with his grandfather. He is also a fan of the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys, often wearing a No. 5 jersey, and has been seen at Raiders training camps. He has shown affection for the New England Patriots, having been seen performing at Gillette Stadium. He is also an avid ice hockey fan, sporting jerseys from the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and the AHL’s Springfield Indians (now the Utica Comets) in his 1994 music video “Gin and Juice”. On his reality show Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood, Snoop and his family received lessons on playing hockey from the Anaheim Ducks, then returning to the Honda Center to cheer on the Ducks against the Vancouver Canucks in the episode “Snow in da Hood”.

Snoop Dogg is a certified football coach and has been head coach for Cordell’s youth football teams and also the John A. Rowland High School team. Cordell plays wide receiver and defensive back at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, and received football scholarship offers from Southern California, UCLA, Washington, Cal, Oregon State, Duke and Notre Dame. Cordell committed and signed a letter of intent to play for UCLA on February 4, 2015. On August 14, 2015, UCLA announced that Cordell had left the UCLA football team, “[deciding] to pursue other passions in his life.”

Religion

In 2009, it was reported that Snoop Dogg was a member of the Nation of Islam. That March 1, he made an appearance at the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviours’ Day holiday, where he praised minister Louis Farrakhan. Snoop claimed to be a member of the Nation, but declined to give the date on which he joined. He also donated $1,000 to the organization.

Claiming to be “born again” in 2012, the gangster rapper converted to the Rastafari movement, switched the focus of his music to reggae and changed his name to “Snoop Lion” following a trip to Jamaica. He released a reggae album Reincarnated, stating “I have always said I was Bob Marley reincarnated”, referring to the Jamaican reggae legend who died in 1981.

In January 2013, he received criticism from members of the Rastafarian community in Jamaica, including reggae artist Bunny Wailer, for an alleged failure to meet his commitments to the culture. Snoop later dismissed the claims, stating his beliefs were personal and not up for outside judgment. Wailer is credited for giving Snoop the name “Lion”.

Politics

In 2012, Snoop Dogg endorsed Congressman Ron Paul for the 2012 Republican presidential primary, although he later said he would vote for Barack Obama in the general election, and through Instagram he gave ten reasons to vote for Obama (including “He a black nigga”, “He’s BFFs with Jay-Z”, and “Michelle got a fat ass”), and ten reasons not to vote for Mitt Romney (including “He a white nigga”, “That muthafucka’s name is Mitt”, and “He a ho”).

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Snoop Dogg came out in support of same-sex marriage, saying that “people can do what they want.”

In his keynote address at the 2015 South by Southwest music festival, he blamed Los Angeles’ explosion of gang violence in the 1980s on the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, and insinuated that his administration shipped guns and drugs into the area.

Legal incidents

Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and for the following three years was frequently in and out of prison. In 1990, he was convicted of felony possession of drugs and possession for sale.

While recording Doggystyle in August 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in connection with the death of Phillip Woldermariam, a member of a rival gang who was shot and killed by Snoop’s bodyguard, McKinley Lee; Snoop was charged with murder along with Lee as he was driving the vehicle from which the shooting had commenced. Snoop and Lee were defended by Johnnie Cochran. Both Snoop and Lee were acquitted; Lee was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but Snoop Dogg remained entangled in the legal battles around the case for three years.

In July 1993, Snoop was stopped for a traffic violation and a firearm was found by police while conducting a search of his car. In February 1997, he pleaded guilty to possession of a handgun and was ordered to record three public service announcements, pay a $1,000 fine, and serve three years’ probation.

Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, and The Game were sued for assaulting a fan on stage at a May 2005 concert at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington. The accuser, Richard Monroe, Jr., claimed he was beaten by the artists’ entourage while mounting the stage, allegedly after an “open invite”. The lawsuit, which sought $22 million in damages, was dismissed in 2009.

In September 2006, Snoop Dogg was detained at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California by airport security, after airport screeners found a collapsible police baton in Snoop’s carry-on bag. Donald Etra, Snoop’s lawyer, told deputies the baton was a prop for a musical sketch. Snoop was sentenced to three years’ probation and 160 hours of community service for the incident starting in September 2007. Snoop Dogg was arrested again October 2006 at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank after being stopped for a traffic infraction; he was found in possession of marijuana and a firearm, according to a police statement. The following month, after performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he was arrested again for possession of marijuana and a firearm. In April 2007, he was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence, five years’ probation, and was required to perform 800 hours of community service after pleading no contest to two felony charges of drug and gun possession by a convicted felon.

In April 26, 2006, Snoop Dogg and members of his entourage were arrested after being turned away from British Airways’ first class lounge at Heathrow Airport. Snoop and his party were denied entry to the lounge due to some members flying in economy class. After being escorted outside, the group vandalized a duty-free shop with whiskey bottles. Seven police officers were injured in the midst of the disturbance. After a night in jail, Snoop and the other men were released on bail the next day, but he was unable to perform a scheduled concert in Johannesburg. On May 15, the Home Office decided that Snoop Dogg would be denied entry to the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future, and his British visa was denied the following year. As of March 2010, Snoop Dogg has been allowed back into the UK. The group involved in the incident have been banned by British Airways for “the foreseeable future.”

In April 2007, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship banned him from entering the country on character grounds, citing his prior criminal convictions. He had been scheduled to appear at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards on April 29, 2007. Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship lifted the ban in September 2008 and had granted him visa to tour Australia. DIAC said: “In making this decision, the department weighed his criminal convictions against his previous behaviour while in Australia, recent conduct – including charity work – and any likely risk to the Australian community … We took into account all relevant factors and, on balance, the department decided to grant the visa.”

He was banned from entering Norway for two years in July 2012 after entering the country the month before in possession of 8 grams of marijuana and an undeclared kr 227,000 in cash, or about US$27,000 as of September 2015.

Snoop Dogg has also been arrested and fined for misdemeanor marijuana possession in Los Angeles in 1998, in Cleveland in 2001, and Sierra Blanca, Texas in 2010.

Snoop Dogg, after performing for a concert in Uppsala, Sweden on July 25, 2015, was pulled over and detained by Swedish police for allegedly using illegal drugs, violating a Swedish law enacted in 1988, which criminalized the recreational use of such substances. During the detention, he was taken to the police station to perform a drug test and was released afterwards. The rapid test was positive for traces of narcotics, and he may be subject to fines depending on the results of more detailed analysis, which should be completed within several weeks. The rapper uploaded several videos on the social networking site, Instagram, criticising the police for alleged racial profiling. He declared in the videos, “Nigga as got me in the back of police car right now in Sweden, cuz”, and “Pulled a nigga over for nothing, taking us to the station where I’ve got to go pee in a cup for nothin’. I ain’t done nothin’. All I did was came to the country and did a concert, and now I’ve got to go to the police station. For nothin.’!” He announced to his Swedish fanbase that he would no longer go on tour in Sweden anymore due to the incident. Police spokesman, Daniel Nilsson, responded to the accusations by saying, “We don’t work like that in Sweden.”

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Oct 19th “Back in the DAY, MUSIC was TOP-Chart”

Music, Music, Music…

Everybody has a preference when it comes to “Music” and just exactly what “Music”  will motivate them, during those different seasons of their life.

During the ‘baby years’ usually all you hear is the standard  “baby talk-type ” sing-songs,  and a whole lot of  ‘dada’ and ‘la-la’ with no real  thought as to what the ‘baby’ will really pick up… as good music.

My case, my Mother liked,  light ‘Opera’ and had a very good voice and knew the foreign languages and would sing for all to hear.

When there was good music to hear on the radio, we would  all listen  and hear,  and of course she would sing along. Music and words were tops in her book! I do not believe that there was a word she did not know.

When I was in High School, and in some classes, especially Biology, there were words, that  I could hardly say, and spelling was out of the question. But, never ever, could any of my problems stump my Mother, she knew the “how and why” and all about those words, which I never could get to first base with.

Music was something else!

I just loved the 1950’s jazz, and then,  to be able to dance to and sing the words with the music, I was in “Seventh Heaven!”

I always wanted my own old time “Jukebox”, but where would I put it?

Also, when you travel – where in the world would you put the jukebox, and would it survive cross-country moving?

Most important, “Clair de Lune” is one piece of music that was a favorite of Mom’s and… “I always think of her, when I hear it.”

I am making a list of special music I would like for my family to play to remember me and to play each of the songs, that  I selected at least three times, so that wherever I am, then I will hear and enjoy the remembrance!

Music being that part of the soul,  that transcends Love … for all eternity!

Just an old favorite or two  from Teresa Brewer…

 

Charted at #1 on Billboard chart in April 1950.

With the Dixieland All-Stars.

This was the B-side (!) of “Copenhagen”. “Copenhagen” did not chart, but this became Teresa’s first and biggest hit.

She recorded it many times, but this is the original.

Written by Stephen Weiss and Bernie Baum.

Original Billboard review: “A gay, corny feed-the-nickolodean novelty is sung with infectious vitality, backed with an old-fashioned, thumping orking.

Should be a good one in the boxes.”

The last one on this … is  the #1 song!

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Oct 18th “Who Was Chuck Berry?”

Chuck Berry – 1926

The Grammy-winning and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Chuck Berry influenced generations of musicians and artists.

With a slew of number one hits, Berry ushered in the era of Rock & Roll. His first hit song, “Maybellene,” was followed by “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” and “Johnny B. Goode,” along with several other popular songs in between.

He continued to perform well into the 1990s.

 

Who Was Chuck Berry?

Considered by many as the “father of rock ‘n’ roll,” Chuck Berry had early exposure to music at school and church. As a teen, he was sent to prison for three years for armed robbery. He began producing hits in the 1950s, including 1958’s “Johnny B. Goode,” and had his first No. 1 hit in 1972 with “My Ding-a-Ling.” With his clever lyrics and distinctive sounds, Berry became one of the most influential figures in the history of rock music.

Early Life in St. Louis

Chuck Berry was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry on October 18, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents, Martha and Henry Berry, were the grandchildren of enslaved people, and are among the many African Americans who migrated from the rural South to St. Louis in search of employment during the World War I era. Martha was one of the few Black women of her generation to gain a college education, and Henry was an industrious carpenter as well as a deacon at the Antioch Baptist Church.

At the time of Berry’s birth, St. Louis was a sharply segregated city. He grew up in a north St. Louis neighborhood called the Ville—a self-contained middle-class Black community that was a haven for Black-owned businesses and institutions. The neighborhood was so segregated that Berry had never even encountered a white person until the age of three when he saw several white firemen putting out a fire. ”I thought they were so frightened that their faces were whitened from fear of going near the big fire,” he once recalled. ”Daddy told me they were white people, and their skin was always white that way, day or night.”

The fourth of six children, Berry pursued a variety of interests and hobbies as a child. He enjoyed doing carpentry work for his father and learned photography from his uncle, Harry Davis, a professional photographer. Berry also showed an early talent for music and began singing in the church choir at the age of six. He attended Sumner High School, a prestigious private institution that was the first all-Black high school west of the Mississippi. For the school’s annual talent show, Berry sang Jay McShann’s “Confessin’ the Blues” while accompanied by a friend on the guitar. Although the school administration bristled at what they viewed as the song’s crude content, the performance was an enormous hit with the student body and sparked Berry’s interest in learning the guitar himself. He started guitar lessons soon after, studying with local jazz legend Ira Harris.

Berry also grew into something of a troublemaker in high school. He was uninterested in his studies and felt constrained by the strict decorum and discipline. In 1944, at the age of 17, Berry and two friends dropped out of high school and set off on an impromptu road trip to California. They had gone no farther than Kansas City when they came across a pistol abandoned in a parking lot and, seized by a terrible fit of youthful misjudgment, decided to go on a robbing spree. Brandishing the pistol, they robbed a bakery, a clothing store and a barbershop, then stole a car before being arrested by highway patrolmen. The three young men received the maximum penalty—10 years in jail—despite being minors and first-time offenders.

Berry served three years in the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men outside of Jefferson, Missouri, before gaining release on good behavior on October 18, 1947, which was his 21st birthday. He returned to St. Louis, where he worked for his father’s construction business and part-time as a photographer and as a janitor at a local auto plant.

In 1948, Berry married Themetta “Toddy” Suggs, with whom he would eventually have four children. He also took up the guitar again when, in 1951, his former high school classmate Tommy Stevens invited him to join his band. They played at local Black nightclubs in St. Louis, and Berry quickly developed a reputation for his lively showmanship. At the end of 1952, he met Jonnie Johnson, a local jazz pianist, and joined his band, the Sir John’s Trio. Berry revitalized the band and introduced upbeat country numbers into the band’s repertoire of jazz and pop music. They played at the Cosmopolitan, an upscale Black nightclub in East St. Louis, which began attracting white patrons.

Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll

In the mid-1950s, Berry began taking road trips to Chicago, the Midwest capital of Black music, in search of a record contract. Early in 1955, he met the legendary blues musician Muddy Waters, who suggested that Berry go meet with Chess Records. A few weeks later, Berry wrote and recorded a song called “Maybellene” and took it to the executives at Chess. They immediately offered him a contract; within months, “Maybellene” had reached No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 5 on the pop charts. With its unique blend of a rhythm and blues beat, country guitar licks and the flavor of Chicago blues and narrative storytelling, many music historians consider “Maybellene” the first true rock ‘n’ roll song.

 

Berry quickly followed with a slew of other unique singles that continued to carve out the new genre of rock ‘n’ roll: “Roll Over, Beethoven,” “Too Much Monkey Business” and “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man,” among others. Berry managed to achieve crossover appeal with white youths without alienating his Black fans by mixing blues and R&B sounds with storytelling that spoke to the universal themes of youth. In the late 1950s, songs such as “Johnny B. Goode,” “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Carol” all managed to crack the Top 10 of the pop charts by achieving equal popularity with youths on both sides of the racial divide. “I made records for people who would buy them,” Berry said. “No color, no ethnic, no political—I don’t want that, never did.”

 

Berry’s soaring music career was derailed again in 1961 when he was convicted under the Mann Act of illegally transporting a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.” Three years earlier, in 1958, Berry had opened Club Bandstand in the predominantly white business district of downtown St. Louis. The next year, while traveling in Mexico, he had met a 14-year-old waitress—and sometimes prostitute—and brought her back to St. Louis to work at his club. However, he fired her only weeks later, and when she was then arrested for prostitution, charges were pressed against Berry that ended with him spending yet another 20 months in jail.

When Berry was released from prison in 1963, he picked up right where he left off, writing and recording popular and innovative songs. His 1960s hits include “Nadine,” “You Can Never Tell,” “Promised Land” and “Dear Dad.” Nevertheless, Berry was never the same man after his second stint in prison. Carl Perkins, his friend and partner on a 1964 British concert tour, observed, “Never saw a man so changed. He had been an easygoing guy before, the kinda guy who’d jam in dressing rooms, sit and swap licks and jokes. In England he was cold, real distant and bitter. It wasn’t just jail, it was those years of one-nighters, grinding it out like that can kill a man, but I figure it was mostly jail.”

Berry released one of his last albums of original music, Rock It, to fairly positive reviews in 1979. While Berry continued to perform into the 1990s, he would never recapture the magnetic energy and originality that had first catapulted him to fame during the ’50s and ’60s.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Berry still remains one of the genre’s most influential musicians. In 1985, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. A year later, in 1986, he became the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first inductee. Perhaps the best measure of Berry’s influence is the extent to which other popular artists have copied his work. The Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles have all covered various Chuck Berry songs, and Berry’s influences—both subtle and profound—pervade all of their music.

Introducing Berry at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones said, “It’s very difficult for me to talk about Chuck Berry ’cause I’ve lifted every lick he ever played. This is the man that started it all!”

On his 90th birthday, the music legend announced that he had plans to release a new album dedicated to Themetta, whom he called Toddy, his wife of 68 years. “This record is dedicated to my beloved Toddy,” he said in a statement. “My darlin’, I’m growing old! I’ve worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!”

Death and Legacy

Berry died on March 18, 2017, at the age of 90. He is remembered as a founding father of rock ‘n’ roll, whose pioneering career influenced generations of musicians. 

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Oct 17th “NATIONAL MULLIGAN DAY”

National Mulligan Day is observed annually on October 17th. 

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Oct 16th “NATIONAL SWEETEST DAY”

National Sweetest Day is observed on the third Saturday in October by people of all ages.

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