Fly and Dry

Rip It Up, Issue 232, 1 December 1996, Page 18

Fly and Dry

Snoop Doggy Dogg burst onto the hip-hop scene in full effect back in 1993, when his debut record, Doggystyle, became the first rap album by a rookie solo artist to enter the American pop charts at Number 1. Almost overnight, the music media, hip hop fans, and industry veterans crowned Snoop Dogg the new king of gangsta rap. Following the release of Doggystyle, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons was moved to say of Snoop: “Anyone who knows anything about music in this industry has tremendous respect for Snoop, he is the dopest new vocalist on the scene.” But that was three years ago. Since then there have been some troubled times for Snoop Doggy Dogg, and these days he is undeniably as famous for his tangles with the law as for his recorded output. Now, on the verge of launching his long awaited second solo album, Tha Doggfather, Snoop is making noises to suggest his gangsta days are over, though the ancient adage about dogs and new tricks still holds some truth — as he said on Doggystyle, ‘lt’s kinda hard being Snoop D-o-double G.’

At the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, Snoop has just completed a photo shoot for an upcoming edition of the hip-hop/style magazine, Vibe. In full promotional mode for Tha Doggfather, the remainder of his day is to be spent talking to foreign journalists. He calls RipltUp two hours later than scheduled, and speaks softly through a mouth full of strawberry ice-cream, while in another room in his suite George Pryce, publicist with Snoop’s record company Death Row (the label founded in 1991 by former NWA member Dr Dre, and one-time pro football player Marion ‘Suge’ Knight), monitors the conversation. Of the major events in Snoop’s life in the previous few years, he talks happily about his acquittal on first- and second-degree murder charges, the recording of his new album, the departure of Dre from Death Row, and the rivalry between rappers on the East and West Coasts of the USA. However, he is less than keen to discuss the fatal shooting of label mate Tupac Shakur, or the FBI investigation into Death Row’s alleged links with the LA-based Bloods gang. His reluctance to address these matters reveals one thing, Snoop Doggy Dogg may spin a good yarn, but he’s a poor liar. By his own admission, the most affecting event in Snoop’s life in recent years was his indictment on murder charges, following a shooting incident in August 1993. Two months prior to the release of Doggystyle that November, Snoop and his then bodyguard, McKinley Lee, were charged with the murder of LA gang member Philip Woldemariam. In February this year an LA jury decided Lee had shot Woldemariam in self-defence, from the passenger seat of a vehicle driven by Snoop. Both men walked free following a trial Snoop has described as, “not fitting into the dream of stardom I had.” In a recent Source interview, Suge Knight said, “I watched Snoop become a man during that trial. Life is different for him now.” “What he meant,” says Snoop, “is it made me a better person, it helped me slow down and to respect life. It meant the growth of me, and me being more of an inspiration to people and not wanting to speak negatively, and being a father to my son, and being a role model to the kids, someone to look up to.”

Immediately after his acquittal, Snoop began recording Tha Doggfather in Los Angeles, indicating at the time his changed attitude would be reflected in his new music. With the album now complete, Snoop says he achieved what he set out to. “The music is a little bit more deep in thought, it’s more emotional, people will be able to feel me more than they felt me before. I deal with a lot of subjects and situations that really need to be dealt with, and it’s good party music to take your mind off your problems, it’s good music to dance to. It’s a hot album, I really gave my all on this album.” The first single from Tha Doggfather, ‘Snoop’s Upside Your Head’, is lifted directly from the Gap Band hits ‘I Don’t Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops)’ and ‘Early in the Morning’. On Doggystyle, Snoop borrowed heavily from the back catalogue of George Clinton’s Parliament, leaving himself open to charges of plagiarism, and ‘Snoop’s Upside Your Head’ certainly doesn’t help his case any. Of course, Snoop sees it differently. “This album has a lot of Gap' Band funk, but there’s a whole lot of different flavours and tones, an’ it’s all from the same thing. George Clinton can put down his thang, and we try to push the same type of groove, it can be the same sound but it’s all different. It’s all within the P-funk realm, within the G-funk realm, and it’s got that Gap Band touch, it’s just old school funk laced with a new twist, and it’s just way fly and somethin’ that everybody can get into. It’s not tryin’ to say we don’t like this side or we don’t like these people, it’s sayin’, ‘Fuck all that we makin’ good music.’” A notable absentee from Tha Doggfather is Snoop’s former musical mentor, Dre. Snoop got his first break in the rap game when Dre cast him as the featured vocalist on his 1992 debut, The Chronic, and Dre was responsible for the smooth sound on the painstakingly well-produced Doggystyle album. Earlier this year, Dre walked away empty-handed from Death Row, estimated to be worth more than $125-million, leaving Suge Knight with 100 percent ownership of the label. In a Vibe interview conducted shortly after his departure from the label, Dre cited the gangsta attitudes of Knight and his associates as the primary reason for stepping away; “The mentality [at Death Row]

is, you have to be mad at somebody in order to feel good, even to be able to make a record... it was too much negativity.” However, Dre did indicate his desire to reunite with Snoop in the future, though at present, Snoop’s ties with Knight and Death Row means he hasn’t seen Dre recently.

“Not within the last six months but I don’t hate him, I love him. I love him and Suge.” While Knight and Dre have continued feuding through the pages of Stateside hip-hop magazines, caught between both camps, Snoop delivers a well-rehearsed spiel when asked for his view on Dre’s split with Death Row. “Basically I feel he wanted to have complete ownership over everything he does. He’s put in a whole lot of work, and after a 10-year career he decided to have everything owned by him and I respect that. After 10 years in the industry I believe I should own everything I do and it should be all about me and mine — I should step away and be my own man and make my own way — and that’s what he felt like he wanted to do.”

Dre has stated he’s keen to work with you again. Do you see it happening?

“Yeah but it’ll be in the future because we’ve all had to do some growin’ and developin’ as individuals and soloists, and then once we do get back together we’ll be that much bigger and stronger, youknowhaimsayin’.” Not only has Death Row been feuding with

Dre, but the West Coast label is also involved in a fierce rivalry with various East Coast hip-hop figures. Essentially the battle has been based around Knight and Shakur’s hatred for Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, boss of New York-based record company Bad Boy Entertainment, and the label’s most high profile recording artist, the Notorious BIG (aka Biggie Smalls). In recent years Shakur has implicated Combs and Smalls in an attempt on his life in November 94, when he was shot five times outside a New York recording studio, while Knight has publicly claimed Combs was somehow involved in the shooting death of a close friend in Atlanta last year. To his credit, Snoop has repeatedly distanced himself from the feuding in the press, and addresses the dispute on his new single. “You hear what I’m sayin’ on ‘Snoop’s Upside Your Head’: ‘Niggas in the game be doin’ way too much / Actin’ tough with this East-West Coast stuff / See me I’m all about my money Nate 1 1 stay fly and dry I don’t get caught up in the rain.’ The whole thing is built up by the media ’cause East Coast rappers get love out here on the West Coast, and when we go out there we don’t get nuthin’ but love and respect from the East coast community. It’s just the media that wants a serious rap game, but we got a plan for them, we gonna stay together and show we all about love and we all about savin’ trees. Once I put my album out everybody gonna know the West does have

somebody out here who is in favour of just making good music and being down and being cool.” While Snoop is anxious to be seen promoting harmony between the two hip-hop communities, the death of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas three months ago only serves to highlight the violence surrounding gangsta rap, and in particular, Death Row Records. Knight himself has assault, drug, and weapons convictions, and is widely believed to have strong ties to the Bloods street gang. A New York Post article dated September 25 claims the FBI are investigating Death Row for possible organised crime connections. There have been various theories put forward to explain the September 7 shooting of Shakur, including a suggestion the murder was the work of another LA based gang, the Crips, major rivals of the Bloods. Snoop, who undoubtedly would be privy to any or all information on the Vegas drama, is not willing to divulge any details.

What’s the current situation with what went on in Las Vegas?

“I don’t know.” Do you have any ideas as to who was involved? “I don’t even know.”

George Pryce: “Snoop was not there.” Do you think it will be settled by the groups involved rather than through the judicial system? “I don’t know.” Do you fear for your own safety?

“...I think I’m safe.” Is the FBI investigating Death Bow for any connection to the Bloods?

“I’ve heard nothing about it.” Suge has recently renamed the label, ‘The New and Untouchable Death Row Records’. What’s that about?

“That’s a whole new part of the twist that we be planning, so the media and the police can’t touch us because we be doin’ all the right things.” Snoop Doggy Dogg remains a much revered figure in the world of gangsta rap, a genre that has long been criticised for degrading women and glorifying violence, where the lines between violent art and violent reality are dramatically blurred. While it’s unacceptable to entertain the idea that gangsta rappers are responsible for the urban ills depicted in their music, Snoop’s not blind to the dangers of his profession. “It’s only music, and music never made anybody pick up a gun and go kill anybody, and if people just take it for what it’s worth it’d be alright, but people always put extras on it. People need to get the message that gangsta rap is here to stay ’cause no matter what happens Snoop Dogg will keep makin’ bomb-ass albums as long as he’s able. Gangsta rap gets the bad rap cause we black, but death happens within all types of music... there’s nuthin’ you can do about it.”

JOHN RUSSELL