Snoop Dogg is Wild Ride from Street Hustle to Cannabis Crown
The name Snoop Dogg is probably familiar to fans of rap music and pop culture around the world. From his early days in the 1990s as a rapper with a laid-back West Coast style, to his current status as a global icon synonymous with a free lifestyle, Snoop Dogg's life journey has been remarkably unique. He started his career on the challenging streets, breaking into the music industry with his distinctive voice and authentic lyrics, then slowly building his own business empire. One of the most notable transformations in his life is how he became a symbol of cannabis culture, even earning the nickname “king of cannabis.”
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| Snoop Dogg is Wild Ride |
This article will explore Snoop Dogg's long journey—from street hustling, to fame in the music world, to his current position as an entrepreneur and popular cultural figure who has changed the stigma surrounding cannabis. With a lifestyle often considered controversial yet consistently authentic, Snoop Dogg's story is a wild ride that reflects the changing times while demonstrating the power to remain relevant in the entertainment industry.
A Long Beach Origin Story
Picture Long Beach, California, 1971: palm trees groovin’ under a sunset that looks like it’s sponsored by a lowrider convention. Enter Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., born October 20, to Beverly Tate, a postal worker with the patience of a saint, and Vernall Varnado, a Vietnam vet who pulled a disappearing act faster than a bad mixtape. Young Calvin earned the nickname “Snoopy” for his Peanuts obsession—yep, the kid was more cartoon dog than gangsta dawg back then. But by age 10, he was hustling cigs from corner stores, probably thinking, “If I’m gonna steal, might as well start with the small stuff.”The ‘80s in Eastside Long Beach weren’t exactly a Disney flick. Crack ruled the streets, gangs called the shots, and survival was the only playlist. A star athlete at Long Beach Polytechnic High, Snoop could’ve dunked his way to college, but the Rollin’ 20s Crips had other plans. “Joining a gang was cool—your homies, your cousins, everybody’s in it,” he later said, like it was just another Tuesday BBQ. Cool? Maybe, until drive-bys turned his world into a warzone. At 8, he saw an uncle gunned down, the sound of bullets lingering like a beat he couldn’t unhear. Talk about a childhood that needed a parental advisory sticker.Read also: Lifestyle and tips for living in Florida
The Street Life Saga
Snoop’s teens were less “high school musical” and more “high school mugshot.” Expelled for truancy and caught with drugs, he pinballed through California’s youth detention centers, probably wondering if life came with a refund policy. “I feared everything,” he told Howard Stern in 2021, admitting he carried a gun but was too spooked to pull the trigger. Enter weed, his green guardian angel. At 12, he took his first puff, probably coughing like a rookie but feeling like he’d cracked the code to chill. “Smoke the marijuana and get high,” he’d rap later, turning a backyard toke into a life philosophy.But music? That was his real escape hatch. Freestyling at school, Snoop’s velvet drawl turned lockers into battlegrounds. With cousins Nate Dogg and Warren G, he formed 213—named after their zip code, because nothing screams “hood pride” like repping your area code. “Nobody gets outta the ghetto by letting someone cut in line,” he wrote in Tha Doggfather, sounding like a motivational speaker who moonlights as a DJ. In 1991, a demo tape hit Dr. Dre’s desk, and Snoop went from street corner to studio faster than you can say “fo’ shizzle.”The Rap Game Takeover
The ‘90s rolled in like a chrome-plated Cadillac, and Snoop was riding shotgun. Dr. Dre, the godfather of gangsta rap, tapped him for “Deep Cover” in 1992, where Snoop’s flow slinked over beats smoother than his trademark braids. Then came The Chronic, Dre’s 1992 classic, with Snoop stealing the show on “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang.” Picture it: America’s suburbs blasting lyrics about gin, juice, and lowriders—Snoop made the hood sound like a party you wished you were invited to.His 1993 debut, Doggystyle, wasn’t just a record—it was a cultural Molotov cocktail. Hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200, it sold 800,000 copies in week one, going quadruple platinum by ’94. Tracks like “What’s My Name?” had fans worldwide trying to pronounce “Snooooop Doggy Dogg” without tripping over their tongues. But fame wasn’t all blunts and bikinis. While recording, Snoop and bodyguard McKinley Lee got slapped with murder charges for the 1993 shooting of rival Philip Woldermariam. Acquitted in ’96 after pleading self-defense, Snoop walked free but shaken, telling the Los Angeles Times, “I wish the violence would stop.” Yeah, surviving a murder trial at 24? That’s a plot twist even M. Night Shyamalan couldn’t dream up.Read also: Ousmane Dembélé's Historic 2025 Ballon d'Or Win Begins a New Chapter for Black Footballers
Reinventing the Dogg
The mid-‘90s hit Snoop like a bad hangover. Tupac’s 1996 murder gutted him—losing a friend and Death Row homie was a wake-up call. With Death Row imploding under Suge Knight’s legal mess and Dre’s exit, Snoop bounced to No Limit Records. His 1996 album Tha Doggfather topped charts but showed a man growing up fast. “He was 25, a father, fresh off a legal gauntlet,” wrote Paul Thompson in The Fader. Fatherhood, thanks to son Corde (born ’94), flipped his script. “I want to live, not die,” he reflected in his 2021 Audible series From the Streets to the Suites. Bet he started checking the “parental controls” box on life.Snoop’s hustle went Hollywood. He married Shante Broadus in ’97 (they hit a rough patch, divorcing in ’04, remarrying in ’08), and traded mics for movie roles—Training Day (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004). His reality show Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood (2007) showed him juggling diapers and deals, while his 2013 reggae stint as Snoop Lion (Reincarnated) had fans double-checking if they’d smoked something funny. Teaming up with Martha Stewart for potlucks? That’s peak “who saw that coming?” energy. “It’s hard to say goodbye to the streets,” he mused, but Snoop was already paving new roads.Pioneering the Cannabis Game
Weed wasn’t just Snoop’s sidekick—it was his soulmate. Long before legalization, cannabis was his Long Beach lifeline, sparked at 12 and never snuffed out. “I’ve always been proud of our movement,” he grinned in 2015, as states started seeing green. That year, he bet big on Eaze, a startup delivering bud faster than your pizza guy. Then came Leafs By Snoop, launched in Denver with LivWell Enlightened Health—flowers, edibles, concentrates, all stamped with Snoop’s seal of chill. “The first mainstream cannabis brand,” he boasted, probably while rolling a joint so perfect it deserved an Oscar.Merry Jane, his 2015 digital hub with Canopy Growth’s Bruce Linton, was cannabis culture on steroids—news, recipes, and vibes for the modern toker. “Cannabis 2.0,” Snoop called it, making weed as accessible as a TikTok trend. By 2018, Leafs By Snoop hit Canada, dodging red tape with Canopy’s clout. Casa Verde Capital, his 2015 VC firm with Karan Wadhera and Ted Chung, pumped millions into startups like LeafLink and Dutchie—valued at $3.75 billion by 2022. “Investing in the future of cannabis,” he said, closing a $100 million fund in 2020, probably with a blunt in one hand and a contract in the other.Building a Global Dynasty
The 2020s turned Snoop into a cannabis Caesar. In 2022, he scooped up Death Row Records, then dropped Death Row Cannabis in 2023, with strains like “Mekka” giving a nod to his rap roots. July 2024 saw S.W.E.D. (Smoke Weed Every Day) open near LAX—a dispensary decked with Doggystyle murals, a 2Pac tribute line (Alien OG, anyone?), and matchbooks cooler than your average merch. Amsterdam got its own S.W.E.D. coffeeshop weeks later, because why stop at one continent when you can blaze a trail worldwide?Snoop’s portfolio reads like a stoner’s dream menu: Do It Fluid (2023) cannabis tonics, Iconic Tonics (2025) with hemp and THC for “functional highs,” and HPDG, LLC (2024) with Hempacco for vapes and edibles. He even tossed $10 million into Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies in 2019, chasing biotech highs. “I’m giving people choices…nice and easy,” he told Forbes in 2025, probably sipping a tonic that tastes like success. Because who needs coffee when you’ve got cannabis-infused charisma?Read also: All American Girls Happy 4th Independence Day