8 Things We Learned From Snoop Dogg's 'Drink Champs' Interview

Snoop Dogg linked with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN on the latest episode of 'Drink Champs' and the West Coast icon dropped a few gems during his visit.

Snoop Dogg attends the NBC's "American Song Contest" Week 4 Red Carpet
Getty

Image via Getty/Tommaso Boddi

Snoop Dogg attends the NBC's "American Song Contest" Week 4 Red Carpet

Snoop Dogg stopped by Drink Champs with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN for the latest episode of the podcast, and the West Coast icon dropped a few gems during his visit.

Discussing everything from getting caught in the middle of the Bad Boy and Death Row feud, to his recent appearance at the Super Bowl alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop opened up about where he’s at these days and shared some interesting facts about his past. He also reflected on the recent loss of his mother, and why he decided to remove most of Death Row’s catalog from streaming services.

embed.spotify.com

Outside of the biggest things we learned from the interview, Snoop was also asked to pick between Kanye West and Pharrell, to which he hilariously replied, “I’d rather make Pharrell mad so I’ll pick Kanye.” When he explained his stance during the very tense West and East Coast beefs of the ‘90s, he showered the New York City rap scene with praise and said he would’ve “loved” to have been a rapper in the Big Apple in the ‘80s.

Check out some of the biggest takeaways from the interview below.

Time stamps: 48:20, 1:24:40

Dr. Dre performed at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show in February, and he brought Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Anderson .Paak along, too. Following the performance, Dre faced some criticism from fans disappointed that certain songs or rappers weren’t included.

“What people don’t understand is, he didn’t do nothing from the Ruthless catalog, the Death Row catalog, nothing from Snoop Dogg’s catalog… He only had 12 minutes,” said Snoop. “What could you do in twelve fucking minutes where you could satisfy everybody? … You gonna miss a beat, where was Ice Cube? That’s the ace in the hole.” At the same time, however, he said that it was ultimately Dre’s decision to pick what made the cut and with decades of material it was difficult for him to fit so much into 12 minutes. 

After addressing the criticism, which was relatively minor, he talked about receiving the call from Dre about the show. “Dr. Dre called to say, ‘They want me to do the Super Bowl, I don’t know if I wanna do it,’” explained Snoop. “One thing you gotta know about Dr. Dre, is he’s a guy that’s in the moment. So if he don’t feel like he’s got a record that’s relevant at the moment, then he doesn’t think he is the moment.” Snoop told Dre that his music is always relevant, especially because of the impact he had on hip-hop.

He added that it was his suggestion to perform “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang,” because he felt it was an integral song to their history together. 

Time stamps: 15:30 and 24:00

Snoop recently faced some criticism when he teased a collaboration between Death Row and Bad Boy, the two labels most involved in the West Coast-East Coast rap beef of the ‘90s. N.O.R.E. brought it up because he shared a picture of Snoop with Puff Daddy that he labeled “Death Row x Bad Boy,” which saw some suggest it wasn’t “right” because people died as a result of that beef.

“People died, but we had nothing to do with it. We were always the peaceful ones,” he said. “That’s the epicenter of everything, they tried to get me to not like Puffy and Biggie while in the middle of the Death Row-Bad Boy feud. And I made my choice, I had no issues with them. … I said, ‘I wanna do a song with them n***as.’” N.O.R.E. highlighted that he made these comments during a particularly tense time in the feud, in the middle of New York City no less, to which Snoop added, “That’s how I felt!”

He said at the time, the New York side was “on our ass,” and he saw it as competition that could make him an even better rapper. “Some n***as don’t like competition, I take it on. I love when a n***a better than me, ‘cause you gone make me better,” he explained. “It ain’t about hate, it’s about, ‘Oh that n***a dropped a bomb-ass album.’ … It’s competition, it’s fun, it’s love! This is what we do, we don’t kill behind it. Motherfuckers didn’t understand that I had enough sense to know that I just beat a murder case. So now you want me to get in another?”

He also spoke about owning Death Row, and said that it all started when he wanted to get back his masters. 

Time stamp: 33:00

In an appearance on Drink Champs back in February, the Game boldly claimed that Ye did more for him in two weeks than Dr. Dre did for him in his entire career. The comment sparked a lot of reactions, and now N.O.R.E. shared what Ye thought.

“Kanye looked at it and said, ‘I don’t think Game should’ve said that,’” N.O.R.E. explained, to which Snoop gave his thoughts. “That’s his personal experience,” he replied. “He could’ve shown him something, Dre not really good at showing you nothing. He basically good at bringing your talents to light, to where it’s about you not what he do for you. … To me, I couldn’t answer that, but Game is my lil homie so I respect everything he say and do. … I respect his point of view.”

He also addressed Game calling him a “safe” artist, and Snoop said that he changed his image dramatically after he beat his murder case so he can see that. “But I’m still a n***a,” he added. “When I’m driving the police get behind me, n***a my heart beat fast like the rest of you!”

Time stamp: 39:00

N.O.R.E. asked Snoop about his grieving process following the death of his mother last year, and questioned why he continued to work through it. “That’s what mama wanted me to do,” he said. “To me, her transition made me better. Because now she’s up top watching over me, it’s no accident I wanted all these things that are happening right now because she’s pulling strings for me.”

He said that his mother always “loved” seeing him “doing what I do, to make people happy, to inspire, to influence … So I don’t wanna be down, and take my spirit down with everybody else that loves me. In the spirit of her, she raised me to be Snoop Dogg. … She the one named me Snoopy!” He said that he “never” heard her call him by his real name, too.

Time stamp: 41:30

The infamous 1995 Source Awards have been covered extensively at this point, and when breaking down how the events of the night unfolded Snoop said he could feel how tense the situation was getting. 

“All the New York n***as had got together, like, ‘Fuck y’all,’” he said. “You feel tension when you come from that environment, you know it can just… Like that [snaps fingers].” 

Time stamp: 1:33:00

The history of 2Pac’s 1996 song “Got My Mind Made Up” is well-known. Daz Dillinger, who produced the track and raps the first verse, said the song was created with Tha Dogg Pound’s debut album in mind. Following Pac’s release from prison, the song went to him instead. Snoop, however, said that Daz wanted to give the song to Nas at some point.

“Guess who was on the song first… Nas,” he said. “Yep. I’m telling you the truth! Nas came over Daz's house, and got on the song first. Then Redman and Method Man got on that song, then Tupac got out the pen and Daz gave it to Tupac and took cuz verse off, but left Method Man and Redman on there." He said that Daz might even have the files still. While he didn’t explain why the song went to Pac, it’s clear that Nas was removed because he beefed with Pac at the time.

Time stamp: 1:51:50

Later in the interview, Snoop spoke about his recent acquisition of Death Row Records and explained why he decided to remove most of the label’s output from streaming services.

“First thing I did was snatch all the music off those platforms traditionally known to people, because those platforms don’t pay,” he said. “And those platforms get millions of millions of streams, and nobody gets paid other than the record labels. So what I wanted to do is snatch my music off, create a platform similar to Amazon, Netflix, Hulu. It’ll be a Death Row app, and the music, in the meantime, will live in the metaverse.”

He asserted that he did “it on purpose,” because it’s about “control.” He went on to talk about how musicians can be insanely popular on Spotify and Apple Music, but the services only pay out a fraction of a cent for every stream. 

Time stamp: 1:31:00

N.O.R.E. challenged Snoop to pick between two tough choices in the world of hip-hop, and if he didn’t answer or picked both he would have to take a shot. When asked between Scarface and Ice Cube, he instantly picked the N.W.A. rapper.

“Ice Cube is my OG, Scar is my peer,” he said. Between Illmatic and Ready to Die, he ultimately sided with Biggie Smalls. 

When it came to Kurupt or Method Man, however, he had to take a shot. “Both of them my n***as, man,” he said. “I can’t do that to my n***as.” 

Latest in Music