From Death Row to Madison Ave.: Snoop Dogg's Journey and Evolution

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

*DISCLAIMER: Transcripts are created using AI, and may not accurately represent the content exactly as presented. Transcripts are provided as a courtesy to our listeners who require them.

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[00:00:00] QP 30 Second Pre-Roll
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[00:00:29] Intro Theme (Music by Danya Vodovoz)
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[00:01:00] Welcome to Queue Points
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Sir Daniel: Welcome back to another episode of QPoints podcast, dropping needle on black music history. I am DJ Sir Daniel. What's 

Jay Ray: happening y'all. My name is Jay Ray. Sometimes known by my government as Johnny Ray corner gave a third. Good evening. 

Sir Daniel: Thank you listener for tuning in. Joining us once again for another dope episode of QPoints podcast.

I'm super excited about this podcast. Listen, we were actually, we were kind of, we're like Jerry and I are literally just running our mouths and then we look up and say, Oh, wait a minute. We supposed to start this show. There's people waiting for us to. On the live, you know, waiting for us to come through and we just sitting, just running our mouths.

But you know what? That's J Ray and Sir Daniel best Q points podcast in a nutshell. How you doing this, this fine day, sir? 

Jay Ray: I 

am doing great. Um, you know what, Sir Daniel, I'm going to call in that we are going to have a producer that is going to get us together and be like, y'all got to cut this. It's time to go live.

We're about to go down. I'm gonna call that in. I am doing incredibly well. Thank you so much for asking. It has been a good week. Um, how about yourself? 

Sir Daniel: How you doing? Same, same, same. Um, absolute wonderful week. Um, just ready for the weekend to come through so that we can get our R and R. And of course, you know, Thursdays, which is the day that we record our show.

mean the most to us. We love coming to do this and we love talking about lots of different things. Um, but Jerry, before we get started, please let the people know the most important factor, the most important thing, how they can keep connected. To you and I and the QPoints podcast 

Jay Ray: brand. Yes. So please, uh, wherever you are, wherever you are watching or listening to QPoints, we encourage you to subscribe to the show, hit the subscribe button.

And if they have a notification bell, like for instance, on YouTube, where you might be checking out the show, hit the notification bell. So that you can be kept up to date when we drop videos, because here's the thing on YouTube in particular, we not only drop our regular show, we have our live show. We have clips, we have, uh, shorts, we have all types of stuff.

So make sure that you hit that notification bell so you can know when cue points drop something dope and new. If you are like, listen, I want to keep the lights on over at the QPoints land. We certainly would appreciate you. Um, in fact, while I say that we are going to shout out, uh, 

[00:03:35] Shoutout to Carlton @turntablelove_ for being a Queue Points Insider
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Jay Ray: our newest QPoints insider.

He's in the chat tonight. His name is Carlton. Carlton is one of QPoints day ones and Carlton is a new QPoints insider. So we wanted to shout Carlton out and say thank you. Be like Carlton and become a subscriber and you can help keep the QPoints lights on so we can keep doing this thing. And you do that by visiting our website at QPoints.

com and clicking the subscribe button. You can also shop our store at store. QPoints. com. And here's another free way to really stay up on what's going down. Join our newsletter. Our newsletter is popping. Um, Magazine. QPoints. com. You not only get. Behind the scenes stuff about the show. You will also get stuff that, uh, additional stuff about some of the topics that we talk about on the show that don't make it into the show.

So we put some of that in the newsletter. So it's not just show stuff. It's like other stuff too. So stay up, stay up with us. Um, we, we just appreciate y'all. But the fact that y'all are here listening to this right now or watching this right now, we just appreciate that. So just keep doing that. 

Sir Daniel: Totally.

Absolutely. So, um, absolutely, absolutely. Uh, and behind the scenes inside Joke, speaking of behind the scenes that behind the scenes video of our discussion about an upcoming episode, chef's Kiss. Um, I love the edit on that. Such a fun time you guys really enjoy, you know, I call into that also a staff of people that are going to.

Take a lot of, um, a lot of the load off of us. So especially Jay Ray, cause Jay Ray does a lot of heavy lifting around here and to just make sure that the show it keeps going and is quality. 

[00:05:28] Transition
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[00:05:35] What do we think of when we think of Snoop Dogg
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Sir Daniel: Jerry, let's get into it. Snoop Dogg from death row, the Madison Avenue, you know, when you.

When I think of Snoop Dogg, I remember going with one of my high school buddies to the dollar 50 movie on Memorial Drive. we went to see, um, Deep Cover featuring Lawrence Fishburne.

And I have to tell you, J Ray, I cannot remember much about that movie, and I have not revisited that movie in years. But what I do remember is the fantastic soundtrack and everybody going. Apeshit over a young man. He had to be in about maybe 18, 19 years old, but this new MC on the block called Snoop Dogg.

And, um, of course he had an amazing co sign with. Uh, one, you know, with a very precarious person, Dr. Dre, but you know, he had a coastline, he had the Dr. Dre coastline, but that's what I think of when I think of Snoop Dogg, I just remember going to that movie theater and hearing that voice come over those speakers and hearing that deep cover record on WRAS rhythm and vibes over the weekend and just thinking, wow, this he's like super smooth.

And he was, he was definitely West Coast, but he wasn't. Uh, you know, I'm a tune out on this guy cause he's from the West coast. He, he gripped my attention. He always had my attention. 

Jay Ray: Um, I too, deep cover is the moments of course, that I remember being introduced to Snoop. And I think folks will have a tendency to be like, yo.

[00:07:28] Dr. Dre needed Snoop Dogg
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Jay Ray: Snoop Dogg, you know, benefited from Dr. Dre. I actually think it's kind of the reverse. I think Dre needed Snoop at the time that they started working together. So, of course, we know that Drake had, Dre had left N. W. A. acrimoniously, right? Um, there's tons of stories about that. And... Needed a new, Dre was always going to be a dope producer, but he needed a way out, right?

He needed a hit. And I think that. Hooking up with Snoop, breathed some new life into Dre, kind of coming out of N. W. A., having Snoop by his side, I think helped Dre to, um, come out on top. I think that was really, really important. And, um, I never saw a deep cover. I never saw the movie. I only remember the song.

And so I feel like I've seen the movie because I saw the video. Um. Basically. Right, but I will say that, um, Snoop was mysterious to me because he was definitely, of course, a West Coast rapper, but Um, he was clearly talented, but he wasn't grandstanding. 

[00:08:54] Snoop has a Rakim quality to him
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Jay Ray: You know how rappers like do a big boastful, I'm going to be the most, you know, whatever this is for his first shot out.

I felt like he slid up in that thing. 

Sir Daniel: You're right. He, he has a, he has a Rakim, uh, quality to him. Cause we, you know, Rakim was always very just smooth and laid back and very to the point. Um, the articulation was there. And we just, and there was just something about that approach that grabs your attention.

Yes, there's people that can be, you know, hollering and hooting and jumping around, hooting and hollering, and yes, yes, y'all in. Um, but then there's people that Make you, they'll take it down a notch and they'll slow down that flow so that you'll, so that you'll have to lean in and listen to everything, every single thing that they're saying.

And I think that might have been intentional because you've got everybody else being loud. Sometimes you gotta say, I'm gonna slow it down and take it down a notch so you could check me out on this thing right here. Okay. I'm going to stop doing that. So I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But, um, you know, So one of my earlier points, I was saying that he was West Coast, but I wouldn't have turned him off.

And I say that because there was definitely this brewing, it was the, the, the, the East Coast, West Coast thing that was starting to come up just a little bit, you know, and at that point, the West Coast had really taken over. the airwaves. And I was definitely, you know, I'm still hollering New York, even though I hadn't don't didn't live there anymore.

You know, I still had Brooklyn on my back, son. You know, I was I was that guy that that kind of high school kid. But um, And still represented for a lot of East Coast rappers and really dug the East Coast flavor of hip hop. But, Dagnabbit, if he didn't come along and shift the culture down to the way people were dressing, I can't wear chucks.

My feet are way too long to wear chucks. It's just not a good look. That was not something that I would, I could do or would do. But I would see people, you know, a lot of People start to adapt the Dickey suits and you know, the case Swiss and the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, uh, the hats representing with the letter of their name or whatever on it.

And I could see his impact on young black men, especially in the culture. A lot of you, we talked about this. I saw a lot more people starting to, to grow their hair out and go back to the straight backs of cornrows. Now, a lot of people have had done that. That's not anything new, but you can't deny that there's something about seeing somebody who looks like you, or some of it that you know, that you grew up, you grew up with, or from around the way that is presented on television, that is looking that way.

With the straight backs that doesn't do something to you and say, you know what I identify with that. I want to look like that. And so you start to see that, um, the culture shift and people even starting to dress like him. And, um, yeah. And as far as the rap, and here's the thing that got me, 

[00:12:26] Snoop was nice on the mic
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Sir Daniel: I'll never forget hearing, um, there was a, do you remember, recall a DJ by the name of DJ personality by the name of Ryan Cameron?

Jay Ray: I, I do not. 

Sir Daniel: So Ryan Cameron is definitely an, an, an Atlanta legend. Um, Ryan had been on several radio stations and I can't remember if this was, if this happened on one of his shows there, or if it happened on an underground show, but there is a freestyle that Snoop Dogg did for Ryan Cameron. That is still.

Ranked as one of the dopest freestyles out. And when I say freestyle, and this is probably a cue points conversation. Also, when I say a freestyle rhyme, I'm talking about off the head, meaning that this is not, it's not pre written like he is strictly going off the head and S and just laying down bars to whatever beat the DJ through one.

And it was like, it was a good five minutes of him rhyming nonstop. And I remember they played, it was so dope that the, the, the college radio station that I would listen to on the weekends on Sunday nights played that as a, as a song, played that freestyle. And to me that kind of solidified the, um, the, the legend of Snoop Dogg that was going around.

I was like, okay, not only is he, so yeah, he's good with Dre. He's, he's got the Dre co sign and you know, he's on this hit album, but He's nice, right? Like he's an mc, he's a rapper's rapper. Mm-hmm. like he and he's, his influences continue. He continued to list his influences mainly from the East Coast.

Mm-hmm. Slick Rick. Yep. You know, you could hear that. You can hear it. And so I think that started to endear him to me. Even more, um, when it came to him being an MC and him giving it up for real, for quote unquote, real hip hop at that time. So it was like, okay, I like that guy. 

[00:14:37] The rise of the west coast was precarious
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Sir Daniel: Yeah, 

Jay Ray: that is a precarious time too, because you, you actually talked about this

as more regional hip hop began to. Um, spread and grow the West Coast became kind of the breakout of that time. The, I think the default of so many people, particularly from the Northeast was to double down on, I mean, yeah, they could do that over there, but we created this over here. Right. And. So I remember, even though I absolutely loved, uh, N.

W. A. 's first album, absolutely loved Ice Cube's first, I'm squinting. You can't, y'all can't see me, but I'm squinting. I loved what Ice Cube was doing, even though it was problematic. And it has a lot of issues that we can talk about in 2023, but that's not what the show is about. I loved those dudes. But I was always going to prefer, um, what was happening in terms of boom bap and East coast hip hop.

Um, so this was an interesting time. Like Snoop, I think to your point came in cause it wasn't going to be Dre, right? It wasn't going to be Dre as an MC that was going to do it. Snoop came in and made us like. Turn our heads a little bit and be like that's different that sounds to your point That's giving me Slick Rick a little bit.

I like that Um, and at the time Dre was also refining what would become his signature production Technique which then took over the world like a year later. So I think Snoop's introduction to us, um, opened up a lot of possibilities. I'm curious, uh, Sir Daniel,

I'm curious about your thoughts on this. 

[00:16:55] Is Snoop Dogg one of our irreplicable artists?
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Jay Ray: I think Snoop is possibly one of those one of one artists that kind of just shows up. And are just so good. They can't be replicated. And it's that thing. Like you can't quite put your finger on what that thing is. Snoop had that, he had that thing. 

Sir Daniel: Absolutely. I totally agree.

Um, Yeah, there's nobody was touching that. Now I will say, okay, so Daz and Corrupt were probably the other two, like, rappity rap guys that were on, that were on death row with, um, with Snoop. Like you could tell. And of course we can't forget Lady of Rage. Of course. Like that assembly of MCs. And Lady of Rage isn't even from the West Coast.

She's from Virginia. And Krupp is from Philly. So you still have an East Coast influence. In that, um, in that roster of MCs, but you still, but Snoop managed to be himself throughout the whole time, brought himself, but also brought the rhymes, the MCs. You talking about somebody that all he would do, he would write his rhymes.

He would rap to different instrumentals. He was constantly doing that. And that's just somebody who. Embrace the culture and embrace the craft, no matter where he would, I think no matter where Snoop Dogg would have came from, if he came from Alabama, if he came from Miami, if he came from, um, Massachusetts, you know, wherever, he would have still brought himself, and that would have still drawn us in.

Um, and so, We have him, we have Snoop, but we haven't like he was talking about Dre's production. Let's just talk, let's just be keep it a buck. 

[00:18:56] GFunk was everywhere!
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Sir Daniel: Dre's production had people creating G Funk remixes that ain't never had a G Funk remix in their life. I'm talking East Coast rappers. East 

Jay Ray: Coast rappers y'all like yo Sitting on Chrome, Master Ace has an entire G Funk inspired Album where he took a Jeep ass nigga and then flipped it into born to roll and it had a whole other life.

It actually had a, he had a pop hit off of that joint like Dre's production at that point literally kind of changed. Um, it changed everything. It changed. It won. God bless him made George Clinton rich, you know what I'm saying? Whereas public enemy had kept James Brown's pockets lined. Dre had what Roger Roger and zap getting paid and, um, and George Clinton getting paid.

And that was also really unique too at the time. Like to our point, East coast rappers had really leaned into like the James Brown bag, which would, would. Dre did was like lean into that Roger and Zap bag and that George Clinton bag and give us a new sound and, and, and Snoop literally just kind of rolled in on that thing.

Um, because nothing but a G thing. I still, that vid, that video and that song, so sidebar, that song has made it into so many playlists that I've done over time because it's just a dope joint. It 

Sir Daniel: literally, it's like pour, this is corny, but it's like getting a fresh stack of pancakes and pouring syrup on it.

It's just this really dope combination of something that will, you will. Fill up on and feel good about it. And you want more it. I can't not ever remember a summer since I was, since my junior year of high school, that that song has not shown up somewhere and let's not, let's not forget, you brought up master ACE and sitting on Chrome, let's not forget car culture, West coast culture and car culture go hand in hand.

And I think that's something that. Kind of spread across the nation. Um, car culture became a thing, you know, specifically in the West, in the Midwest, down South here as well, you know, people in the box, Chevys, young men, here's the thing, young men. Um, especially young black men here in the South could get, could save up enough money to get a box Chevy secondhand and make it their own, trick it out the way that they could the best that they could make it luxurious.

And that's what, because that's what black people do. You take what we have and we make it luxurious. What we also do is we're going to put some speakers in that back, it's going to knock. And so. You know, Dre and Snoop in that whole, that, that whole, um, movement tapped into that fact that they tapped into the black male, um, psyche, the black male, um, ego of that time and say, you know, these are what these brothers need right now.

We need them something to drive around in because that's what you're going to do. That's your own piece of luxury right there. Is that box Chevy is that Buick is that, um, in my case, that, that 86 Mercury Sable. 

Jay Ray: I had a mert. What did, what did I have? I had the Mercury. Topaz was 

Sir Daniel: the smaller version. Ooh, the Topaz.

I, and I also know I also had a, an 86 Ford l T d. 

Jay Ray: Oh, that what? Oh, that's what is big. 

Sir Daniel: Well, yeah, it was kind of, it was mid-sized. Mine was mid. But it did have the bench seat, or as I call it, the altogether seat, where if you want to move it up, we all got to say, Hey, y'all ready? We are all moving up. 

[00:23:20] DJ Sir Daniel gets stuck in Freaknik traffic?
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Sir Daniel: Sidebar real quick?

Did I tell you that story of the time I got stuck in frequent traffic in my. In my 86 LTD. You did 

Jay Ray: not, but that seems like a perfect car to get stuck in Freaknik 

Sir Daniel: traffic in. No it was not, and I'll tell you why. I had, there was, it was no cassette player, no CD player, it was just strictly a FM radio. It didn't have no sound system.

Um, I had, um, manual windows, so, and, and I'm trying to 

Jay Ray: remember if I had AC. I'm trying to remember. 

Sir Daniel: I cannot remember if I had AC or not, but I, I know I had heat because in the, in the wintertime, that joint was blowing and I was warm in that joint. But yes, I got stuck in frequent traffic in my powder blue rust on one eye of, of my, um, of my, uh, Car lights, headlights was rusted over.

So, and you know what they used to call it in, um, in school, they would call me, they would say, ah, here comes the blue goose. Yup. They call my car, the blue goose. 

[00:24:29] Snoop captured the imaginations of young Black men.
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Sir Daniel: But I said all that to say that is a young black man's. Piece of luxury, piece of something that he can hold on to. And what you play in your system becomes part of that experience.

And so that's how that, so I think that's why Snoop, why Snoop dog means so much to our generation, especially to young black men. 

Jay Ray: Yeah. And. Snoop had a way of just kind of embodying. He always seemed really sure of who he was because let's, let's move into his debut album. And I feel like this is really important too, because.

The chronic was huge. 

[00:25:17] Doggystyle exceeded, already high, expectations
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Jay Ray: The chronic was huge. And so the bar was already really high for Snoop's debut out. It was either going to sink and torpedo, or it was going to go nuclear and doggy style exceeded expectations. I feel like in many ways, and also added Snoop had some dimension that you alluded to earlier, because I think what.

In researching this show, you talked about the fact that, you know, Snoop as a freestyler, like that five minute freestyle and how important that was of coming off the head. That was a precursor to, I think, the creativity of Snoop that I think now we get. To experience in 2023, because honestly, Snoop has an entire pop career that I did not realize until, because these are songs I don't listen to like, he has a song with like Bebe Rexha and like all of these like white women singers that 

Sir Daniel: are Katy Perry, that California girls by Katy Perry is an enormous hit featuring 

Jay Ray: Snoop Dogg featuring Snoop.

So he has this whole thing, but I think what this all led, what this all was saying. It's like, yes, he has this great producer, Andre, but this person is also incredibly creative and has vision. And I think Doggystyle was like, here is what I want my debut album to be, right? And we get this debut album. It goes nuts.

Um. And produces just some of the dopest hip hop of that era. You can, and I know that for me. One of the things that I always have a soft spot for is when my parents can see themselves in it. My dad was so into Snoop and what he was doing because, you know, I had the whole, you know, it had the, the, the Dolomite angle.

You had the dramatics in there. You had Jen and Juice was just like a cruising joint. He loved Jen and Juice. As a song, because it reminded him of seventies funk and soul joints. Right. So Snoop was being innovative, but he was bridge building at the same time. And this is a young cat. 

Sir Daniel: Absolutely. He Snoop, um, to your point about that, specifically that, um, that video, I think it's a doggy dog world where he had, he had all of the black exploitation.

Stars of the seventies make cameos in that video, because that was important to his childhood. And I think it was so important to the culture that he shared that, that he gave them some love because those people never, those actors culturally, we love them and they, they mean something to us, but outside of that, in that specific time, they weren't, a lot of them probably weren't respected in Hollywood.

You know, there was a, you know, people, they looked down on Blacksploitation flicks as, you know, D List movies or whatever. But they meant something to us because we saw ourselves there. But that also brings me to another point. Snoop Dogg introduced something that is... A lot of people had an issue with, but he brought pimp culture into hip hop as well.

Or at least he... Other people have referred to him... Nah, I can't, I cannot, um, discredit too short. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause Too Short has always referred to himself as a pimp, but I just clearly recall seeing in Snoop Dogg's videos, like that was my first clear representation of Snoop Dogg wearing, first of all, letting his hair down and getting it curled.

And then the rings, the um, the

Snoop Dogg pimp persona. And then he also brought real pimps into the spotlight, like your, um. Bishop Don Juan, he brought those people into the spotlight, into the videos. And so before that, nobody heard of Pimp Cups, 

Jay Ray: right? And everybody was blinging out a cup after that.

Sir Daniel: Today, you have white women in the Middle West that have a shot and they call that their pimp cup. Why? Because of the influence of a young Calvin Broders. 

[00:30:01] Break
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[00:30:06] Radio BSOTS Mid-Roll
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There are two types of people in the world, those who complain about the state of today's music and those who dig. I'm Jason Randall Smith, and I invite you to check out Radio BSOTS, both sides of the surface, a music podcast, championing the work of independent artists from around the way. To around the world with a primary focus on creative commons, licensed music.

Think of this show as a never ending virtual crate day through a parallel universe of online labels, seeking out the hip hop soul, jazz, funk, and electronic music gems that are often hiding. In plain sight and hopefully demystifying the world of creative commons along the way, one song at a time. You can find radio BSOTS wherever you listen to podcasts.

For more information, visit the website at BSOTS. com. That's B S O T S dot com.

[00:31:07] Blatant misogyny is being introduced in hip hop
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Jay Ray: Stuff can be two things, right? Yes. So at that same time, while Snoop is bringing pimp culture in there, we are entering, I think the moment of hip hop where there is just blatant misogyny.

Everywhere. Um... It's a lot of, it's a lot of bitches and hoes. It's a lot of, yeah, it's a lot of, it's a lot, it's bringing pimp culture to, to the mainstream, right? 

Sir Daniel: Well, you said it, the gin and juice video, which clearly is a favorite. Remember what happens in that video with the young lady? Was that the beer?

Jay Ray: Was that gin and juice? I thought that was nothing but a G thing. I don't know, they all run together. But the beer, where he pours it on top of her, like she comes in, she's a hot girl, and they degrade her by pouring the 40s on her. But stay, but yeah, you get all of that show, now it's showing up in music videos.

And then this gets complicated, right? Because the music videos now have to be, now there's censorship. Of music videos that need to happen. So, you know, there's 

Sir Daniel: all that blurring. It was 

Jay Ray: so much pixels and blurs and 

Sir Daniel: all of the logos. It was okay. So it was the G thing video, but they were blurring out logos like crazy.

If there was a little bit of nudity, they were blurring that out. And I do recall MTV was real heavy handed with it. The blurring, right? BET 

Jay Ray: was not as heavy with it. Um, initially, um, initially, but yeah, be, uh, MTV definitely. 

[00:32:54] Parental Advisory stickers made things seem cooler to kids
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Jay Ray: But here's the thing. I don't know that the sensor or the, the politicians and the sensors realize this.

That actually made the stuff cooler. The parental advisory sticker. That was the record you wanted. You're like, no, no, no, no. I want the one with the 

Sir Daniel: sticker. You absolutely wanted that version. I want 

Jay Ray: to see the version of this video without the blurs. You know, it made it cooler. 

Sir Daniel: And I think, and we have Madonna to thank for this.

I think by that point. If they were banning a video on a, on, on television or national television, you could go to the record store and buy, purchase the video on VHS. Yep. So all of, all of that blurring and, um, and editing videos to make it, you know, more palatable for middle America, just force those things into, um, To, to higher sales and some more popularity because the more you keep things away from people, the more they want them.

Jay Ray: So you have this young cat at the center all of all of this and really has shifted Um the way folks rhyme right and this is period in hip hop. Um And then a bunch of stuff starts to happen, right? that Really, 

[00:34:21] Snoop's wilderness period and the East Coast/West Coast beef
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Jay Ray: Snoop was kind of out of the, not out of the spotlight, he was in trouble for like an extended period of time following his first album.

We get the murder was the, the murder was the case video happens and all of that. There was a lot going on, death row. We were now in the thick of. The East Coast West Coast thing, you know what I forgot about until researching this This show for whatever reason I felt like the East Coast West Coast thing really didn't pop until like 96 But no It was really 95 because the New York New York was on the dog pound record and that was 95 and I'm like wow That was only like two years after Snoop's debut.

So already You are now You We're now in this huge coastal war, um, that death row and bad boy are kind of the faces of for the most part, but it's really coastal at that point. And that's crazy. 

Sir Daniel: It's crazy. It's very coastal. And I think really the gasoline was poured on at the source awards. Yep. The, the very infamous source awards where, um, I would imagine there was a lot of tension in that room, you know, because let's just face it, Suge Knight was just stirring the pot.

He was stirring the pot, talking, talking a lot of mess and stirring the pot, um, literally just insulting people that were sitting right in front of him and, you know, made it really hot in the room where you could see when Snoop came on stage, you could see he was disappointed because that hadn't happened before. Right. Like Snoop Dogg legit got a lot of love no matter where he went, specifically to the new, to New York because New York was important to him.

Yeah. Snoop Snoop is a hip hop theme. Mm-hmm. Snoop will tell you about listening to old Re um. Listen to tapes of Marley Marl and, and Roxanne Shantae. He's, he is a hip hop junkie. And to come to the birthplace where he thought he had love before and to be received like that and to hear the boos that you could tell really shook him to his core and kind of put the battery in their back to do that whole New York, New York video where he was stomping on the world trade towers.

And, Snoop kind of fell back. And I think that was the part around the time when Snoop kind of departed from Death Row. Yeah. 

Jay Ray: So this is leading into Snoop's wilderness. We call this Snoop's wilderness period. I think this also prepared him. For the moment he's having today where one Snoop never stopped working, right?

So he, of course, gets bought out of his contract. We know the story. Now, Master P Snoop needs to get out of death row death row. It's gone too far, right? Pac is already dead. Um, Snoop needs to get out because of course he's like, listen, I don't know if I can survive this. Masterpiece saves him by buying him out of his contract over at Death Row.

You know, uh, Money Talks and Suge, you know, he wrote that check. Suge let him go and so 

[00:37:50] Snoop's No Limit period allowed him to reset
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Jay Ray: Snoop enters this interesting no limit period because of course no limit Was popping at that moment, but that was also really interesting. So you get Snoop who is so heavily identify with California now on a label in new Orleans, right?

That's a thing. And it's interesting because. I know all of those records exist. I've never really heard them. Um, the only one from that era is towards the end, like that last one, I think it was the, the, the dog father, I think was like the last one that was when the Neptunes and Timbaland started to kind of get into that music a little bit.

I don't remember those records. But yeah, I know those records 

Sir Daniel: happened they did they um, of course we got down for my hitters Yeah, if you're talking about the radio version, but we know the song You know the real name of the song we got that out of um out of that no limit Snoop Dogg collaboration And it was but you know what it was divine timing because the South was having a submergence at that point.

Absolutely No limit was everywhere. Then you have Atlanta and outcast and everybody, they're doing their thing. And of course, you know, Miami is all was always around doing their thing. So it kind of made sense that he was, you know, ebbing and flowing along with what was going on in the industry in hip hop.

[00:39:25] Transition
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[00:39:25] American Black folks have a natural connection to the south
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Jay Ray: This is, this is curious to me because I, I think black folks, we have a natural connection in the United States to the South. The South is a place where we could kind of go and lay our head and return to, I think for many folks. And so I do find it interesting that he would get down to the South.

To kind of rework things, right? And Mark McPherson just brought something in. Don't forget Snoop's, uh, roots are in Mississippi. He was born in Cali, but his parents are from Macomb. I think that is so important that these folks from the South and that moment gave him room to figure out the future. 

Sir Daniel: That's an excellent point.

And speaking of, um, him being from the McComb family, let's not forget who is, um, who is, uh, Snoop Dogg's relatives, but Brandy and Ray J Brandy, Mississippi. So, yeah, um, that's an excellent point. I didn't think about that. The South allowed him to regroup and to gather himself and to. Literally just set the stage for what he was about to walk into, which was that, that new era that you alluded to regarding, you know, his pop era.

Yup. 

Jay Ray: Snoop 

Sir Daniel: had a pop era. 

[00:41:11] Snoop's successful Pop era
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Sir Daniel: Snoop had a very successful pop era. Like we never, if you would have told me that the young man snarling, And turning into a Doberman Pinscher in his video would have been popping champagne with Mariah Carey in their duet together. I would have said that wouldn't, that's not going to happen.

Never going to happen in a million years. But that happened, that particular song happens to be one of my favorite Mariah Carey songs. Featuring Snoop Dogg and the production of the Neptunes. And I think he got, he made some really great relationships. Like again, he started off with a super producer and found his way back into the comfort zone with two new group sets of super producers, um, including Timbaland and the Neptunes.

And again, in the South, in Virginia, cause Virginia is in the South, folks. We're not going to have that. That conversation, Virginia is in the South and he really becomes a pop commodity, a fixture on radio and television and is literally setting the stage for the next act in his career, in his life. 

Jay Ray: Yeah, that there's lessons to be learned from.

Um, persistence, because here's the thing, um, there's, there was, he didn't stop working, right? So even during the weirdness of it all, he never stopped working. He never stopped producing. And ultimately that led to. Some major hits for him it made it led to some major things But I think also thinking about this moment in time as he was setting up kind of this pop thing Um, I think also probably gave him some perspective and also show hip hop what was possible, too so There are folks who will say Rappers can only do this is what you do.

You can only do that. I think Snoop Proves time and time again, that you can kind of reinvent yourself. As long as you keep working, you can reinvent yourself. And that's what he kept doing. And it's still doing like today, he's still reinventing 

Sir Daniel: himself. He is, I think also. What is undeniable about him is that that level of cool, it's a, it's, it's just cool is something that you are either born with, you either have it or you don't.

And Pete, like I said earlier, that magnetism, I remember one time I was working at V103 and we had. It was the V 103, uh, auto show. They had an auto show out in college park and Snoop dog was the guest of honor, the performer of honor. And at that point, I think this was in that, that it was, I think it was 2005.

It was that wilderness era where he had some hits. Um, but you talk about still wielding that star power. I remember God, do it. Oh, did I get a picture with him? I can't remember. Cause I, I think I did, but I don't have it, but it was, it was that thing of like, yo, this is Snoop. First of all, he's enormous. And I'm not a short dude.

I'm not a short dude. And so if I look at him and say, damn, he's, he's tall as hell, but everybody's like, everybody was swarming. We were all like trying to get that moment with Snoop because. He's just that iconic and he's just that cool. And that is just something that you cannot manufacture. And I think it's, it's, it's part of the formula of what made him the superstar that we know him as.

[00:45:26] Snoop goes Hollywood
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Sir Daniel: And I think, you know, you can't not talk about. Somebody that has such a hot music career and is fast becoming an, um, an icon in the culture and not put him on the big screen and not have him in movies. 

Jay Ray: Yeah, Snoop was, I mean, Snoop was tailor made for movies. I will say that my favorite Snoop movie moment.

I'm a horror fan. Bones is totally fun. If y'all have never seen Bones, and you're into horror movies, definitely watch it. Um, in the description we'll make sure that we put a link to, um, Dead Meets Kill Count for Bones. Oh my gosh, Carlton just put Soul Plane in the chat. That's a whole other conversation.

But, but yeah, Bones was, for me, Show what the one, the possibility of black horror could be, and then to the fact that Snoop was playing like the main, uh, the main villain in that made a huge difference. So yeah, you put him on the big screen. He's tailor made for that. He is even when he went, even when he's rapping and kind of doing his music thing, it does have a theatrical kind of component to it where it's almost like this is a character.

Um, I'm, I've always been curious of how much of Snoop is in all the stuff, right? So, yeah, putting him on the big screen just made sense. I would've. 

Sir Daniel: Like, you know, putting him on Baby Boy, I mean, come on. That, and let's not, and let's not forget all the No Limit movies. Like, I got the hookup. Again, that. All the No 

Jay Ray: Limit 

Sir Daniel: movies.

Like he, like you said, he never stopped working. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, and that's something a lot of, if you look at the people who have made it through, have traversed that, that the wilderness period in their career, they never stopped working regardless of what it looked like. If it was a Hollywood blockbuster or not, if it was a mixtape, he was on it.

It was a no limit production. He was on it. He was doing something to stay busy. And you know, he finally had his, 

[00:47:51] Snoop is the ultimate salesman
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Sir Daniel: You know, we come to a point where in the, in just these past few years. What really made us bring up this, this topic is that Snoop Dogg has become the go to person to sell everything. It's 

Jay Ray: crazy.

It's him and Shaquille O'Neal. It's cool. Snoop Dogg is selling us like Corona. 

Sir Daniel: Listen, he's selling us Corona, he's selling us wine, he's selling us Skechers, I, Jay Ray I'm literally waiting for the moment that Snoop Dogg is going to become an AARP spokesperson. It's going to happen. Because that's coming.

Jay Ray: It's coming, isn't he? Selling a cookbooks with Martha Stewart too you know, here's something that we did not touch on. We did not talk about the impact Snoop Dogg had on weed culture. Yes. I mean, the album of chronic literally squarely is about weed culture, but Snoop Dogg is synonymous with weed. And that's what's so miraculous is that he is synonymous, synonymous with weed and weed culture in this country.

Sir Daniel: But yet still, he is. A huge megastar across the board, regardless of the demographic, black, white, um, middle class, rich, he is so popular with so many people, despite his criminal, you know, his criminal past and all of those things that he came out from, and being a proponent of marijuana. And I think that's just magical considering he, this is a black man.

Yeah. From Long Beach, California. 

Jay Ray: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Um, you are absolutely right. Um, you can't think about Snoop Dogg without thinking about weed, right? It's just what you're going to get. So the fact that he can also be somebody that, like I often say this, my mother loves Snoop, she, when he, when she hears his voice on the radio, cause he'll be selling us something or a song will come on and she knows his voice.

And she will say, that man, that boy, that boy really got his self together. He used to be a mess. He really got it together. He looked like that dog. I remember him. 

[00:50:20] Why it's important to see Black men age and evolve
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Jay Ray: She, my mom who knows nothing about hip hop y'all, remembers Snoop as a teen, as a young man, and now is like Love seeing him on TV as a grown adult working.

Sir Daniel: And I think that's something to be applauded. I, that's why, that's why it hurts so much when a lot of our, um, hip hop pioneers pass away so young, you know, I love seeing Snoop Dogg as a football coach to his kids football team. Right. I love, you know, those kinds of things are so endearing because it, it shows us the fullness.

Of what black men are and can be in this culture in the, if we were just allowed to, to be, and allowed to be all the things that we'd like to be. That man is a football coach. He's a chef. I've seen him DJ a couple of parties. You know, he is just that all around dude that if he would, if the culture, if this country would allow all of us to be.

Jay Ray: Yeah, man, like you, you have to respect.

[00:51:38] Snoop Dogg has 20 albums, y'all!
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Jay Ray: He has 20 albums, Sir Daniel. 20. So here's what I did in preparing for this show. Y'all, there are so many Snoop albums I just The majority of Snoop albums I haven't heard. Because Snoop, going back to that earlier point, when you were talking about the freestyling, Snoop is clearly incredibly prolific.

Snoop is probably in the studio right now, working on another album. for 2023. He's just incredibly prolific. He's always putting something out. Snoop has like two albums for 2022. Like not one, two. Um, he has one already out in 2023. Like Snoop has like new material out like now. So there is something to be said for walking in your truth.

And walking in, um, uh, the fullness of who you are, um, and be damned with all the other things. Stuff can be two things we do where we're not talking about, um, all of the negative things that have happened. We have heard about, um, in terms of, you know, relationships and all of that stuff. We're not getting into those things for this show, but we recognize that those things exist too.

Um, but once again, um, he's a, he, he works like a full human. He works like a full human. He just, he just kind of does what it is that he's doing. And now he owns. Death row's name. Wow. 

Sir Daniel: That part. I he's just, he literally is, if there is, and there are courses, um, courses on hip hop in colleges, he definitely should.

He's a whole chapter, a whole study, uh, probably possibly a whole course unto himself on navigating this business and making sure you pay homage to the craft, but also a study in the it factor. Yeah. Because in entertainment, what do they tell you, tell you about all the time? People have to have the it factor.

There's gotta be something super special that people pick up on that makes you want to look at them or listen to them. And Snoop dog has. Both of those things he still has it to this day now I think one of we can share our favorite moments 

[00:54:26] Queue Points' favorite Snoop Dogg moment ... "Sensual Seduction"
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Sir Daniel: But I think you and I have a very sure a special a very favorite moment a song that Snoop Dogg had And we both said it Sensual seduction.

Can we talk about that for a hot second? 

Jay Ray: Favorite, my favorite Snoop moment because it was so like, this is the kind of weird, I'm it's a black ass weird that I'm. Into I want him to auto tune this thing. I want this weird ass video. I wanted Every inch of that and you still play that song today and I still get my life sensual seduction Really?

I feel like is like snoops snoops most pure Like it's a little hip hop. It's a little soul It's a little funk and it's a whole lot of just like It's good. 

Sir Daniel: Well, you know, um, I'm an eighties fanatic. It's squarely that eighties sound like eighties roller rink music, but also sounds like eighties porn music at the same time, which I think was done on purpose.

And. The video, like you said, was giving, you know, like Jane Fonda workout videos. I don't know if any of y'all are old enough to remember this, but like, maybe at like four o'clock in the morning when, so there was a time kids, when the television broadcast would stop, it would literally stop overnight.

There will be nothing on TV until maybe about four o'clock in the morning. And they figured that these this is the time where these um housewives Would get up in the morning so they could exercise and look good for their husbands and they would throw on these these very cheesy Uh aerobics videos with women with side ponytails and leg warmers and leg warmers and You know, that kind of stop and go video.

And that's exactly what that video brings me back to. And I'm like, whoever did this is a genius. They say, some people say that nostalgia is a drug. It's totally a drug. My tap me right in, just give it to me. I love some good nostalgia. And, um, and Snoop dog was definitely the, the vehicle for that. Somebody that could carry that off, you know, um, and we saw Snoop.

You know, master the stage to Super Bowls again, or go, that was great. And he was part of that whole death row. Dr. Dre medley. Yeah. You know, two things, like you said, two things could be true at the same time. You know, there's something that we You know, we just can't jive with, with one person in that whole clique.

But then, you know, you got Snoop who is just like completely winning people's hearts all over the world. It's so wild. It's just really 

Jay Ray: wild. 

[00:57:32] Closing
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Jay Ray: Yeah, um, I'm glad we... took the opportunity to talk about Snoop in this particular show actually connects to, um, a couple other shows that we've done, of course, talking about the musicians and food, but also our conversation with Donovan, uh, ex Ramsey about his book, um, when crack was king, um, Snoop is kind of, you know, a through line in, in, in those conversations too.

And so, um, Yeah, you know, listen, it is, you know, it's snoops world, y'all like we, we said, we just living in it, you know, he's gonna, hell yeah, hell yeah, let me, let me, let me, let me pull this up really quick because this is, um, I'm going to go back. Okay. I want all of y'all to definitely go to Spotify and I want you to go and go to discography and I want you to go to show all.

Under Snoop Dogg, and I want you to be amazed at the amount of things that are under Snoop Dogg's name. And, what's so funny is I was skimming a bunch of tracks today, I was like, oh that's actually dope. It's so much and it's so the point I'm making is he's been he's been continuously year after year putting out stuff and um, it's probably a it's probably a lot of gems in there.

So I'm glad we at least took some time to um, shout him out. Thank you Snoop for doing 

Sir Daniel: what you do. I am as well. I'm glad we did this. Um, really quick though. Have you been keeping up with this whole story about the person that wrote that book about Pac Tupac and his home being raided? No. Oh yeah. They raided the home.

They took laptops and, um, I guess, uh, writings. I think there's still, for whatever reason, I think they're still trying to figure out what this gentleman's connection is to the death. of Tupac. I know we talked about Tupac briefly in this, in this Snoop Dogg, but I just wanted to see if you were keeping abreast of it.

They just, they literally, um, raided that man's home. It's Keith somebody, a known gang banger who hung out with Death Row, who hung out with Pac and them, who was there the night of the shooting. He wrote this book. Um, but somebody made a point. I don't know. At this point, it's like, what more do, are we trying to figure out here or what more can be said?

I don't know if anything, you know, I don't know. I just brought that up. Just see what you had thought about it and see if you had heard anything regarding that. 

Jay Ray: No, I haven't. I haven't heard anything. And I think you ask a really important question about what more is there to to gain. Yes, I can understand definitely the families wanting some closure.

Two things, but I think most of this other stuff is just kind of salacious. So as you can see, if this man wrote a book, you know, he's trying to, he's trying to, you know, make his coin and that's, you know, I ain't gonna get in the way of nobody's coin. Um, I don't, you know, it's like, sure. Okay. I guess this is going to be a forever story.

Um, but what I, what I do hope I will say this, what, what I. I do see happening is I do think Snoop can write the legacy of death row. I do think there was a lot of good that came from that label and I think so much of it got shrouded in like violence and just negativity that I think we have an opportunity to with Snoop at the helm to.

Really kind of right that ship, right? Cause the legacy of death row was really in poor shape. So I think he is committed to doing right by it. 

Sir Daniel: I think that's a wonderful place to stop. Um, and this has been a real, as usual, duh. This has been a great show. It's Q points, duh. Um, and we are going to, you know, come at the conversation.

As only J Ray and I can, and we thank you, listener, for tuning in and for making this another great episode, J Ray, before we get up out of here, let them know one more time, all the things that they need to do to make. Q points, the number one podcast or remain the number one podcast in the podcast sphere.

Boom. 

Jay Ray: Listen, y'all. First things first, uh, wherever you are listening, wherever you're hearing our voice or watching our faces right now, make sure that you subscribe in that place and go ahead and click the notification bell so you can stay in tuned. Um, That's free. Absolutely. A help. And the other thing you can do that's free and you can help is you can join the mailing list at magazine.

qpoints. com. We got a bunch of dopeness over there, um, that you should tune into. And if you want to go a step further, keep the lights on over in QPoints land, you can subscribe on our website at qpoints. com. Click the subscribe button and you can shop our store at store. qpoints. com. 

Sir Daniel: Sounds perfect. What do I say?

Every time Jay Ray in this life, you have a, you have a choice. You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play. I am DJ Sir Daniel. My name is Jay Ray y'all and y'all's busters better recognize it. This is Q points podcast, dropping the needle on black music history. We'll see you on the next go round.

Peace.

[01:03:38] Closing Theme
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