Snoop Dogg, whose new project The Algorithm arrives next month, stopped by The Breakfast Club on Wednesday. The resulting 40-minute interview opened with some talk about the artist’s new role at Def Jam, then grew into a number of follow-up discussions touching on the recent death of his mother and an important conversation he had with Eminem.
Up top, Snoop was asked about being named an executive creative and strategic consultant at Def Jam Records, prompting the Beach Bum star to lay out his longtime admiration for the company.
“I just missed the mystique of Def Jam Records and what it meant to hip-hop and what it was all about,” he said around the 1:20 mark. “That was the only label we was competing with when I was on Death Row Records was Def Jam. Because they were like the epitome of what hip-hop was supposed to be. And I just feel like I still have a lot in me. I feel like I have a lot of information, wisdom, guidance, and tutelage for these artists.”
Later, Charlamagne pointed out (around two minutes in) that there was a period when “the West Coast saved Def Jam before,” referencing Warren G. Snoop noted that he his pen “had something to do with that as well,” though he didn’t elaborate beyond stating that he and Kurupt “and a few others” had gotten together to work for Warren at the time to make sure he had a “dope record.” At the time, Snoop recalled, Suge Knight was “taking everything,” so he “silently” worked with Warren.
Briefly, Snoop also responded to Meek Mill’s recent tweet about not getting “paid for music.” Around the 3:45 mark, Snoop pointed to the importance of the word “recoup” in business dealings of this nature.
“See, a lot of people don’t mention that word,” he said. “When they put money upfront, that means they want money back. And [if] you haven’t made the money based off your record sales or whatever your deal consists of then you’re unrecouped. … That leads you to not get any more money. That’s why they like giving you money upfront, so you can owe them.”
Around the 6:25 mark, the hosts asked Snoop to talk them through what he’s learned during the pandemic. Here, Snoop opened with a quick reflection on how solitude has always been his go-to state, meaning that aspect of the pandemic hasn’t been a hard one for him. What he’s learned, however, is that people need to take the time to “understand what life is about” while also gaining the skills necessary to truly treasure it.
“I just lost my mom a couple of days ago,” he said. “It’s heavy on my heart but at the same time I know that these are things that she loved for me to do. To make people smile, to make people laugh, to spread joy. So the pandemic taught me to love people more, to be more up close and personal, and to be more understanding. Because there’s a lot of mental health going on. We all have it but we just ashamed to say it.”
The topic of squashing an Eminem non-beef, meanwhile, came up around 14 minutes into the new interview. As you’ll recall, the back-and-forth seemingly began last year when Snoop said (also on The Breakfast Club) that he wouldn’t include Em in a ranking of top 10 lyricists.
“Man, I love Eminem,” Snoop said Wednesday. “And the thing is that we love hip-hop so much, we competitive. We battle rappers. So that was supposed to trigger that in him but we brothers and we family so we learned to appreciate each other for what we do and how we get down.”
According to Snoop, he and Em eventually had a “long conversation” about their mutual respect for each other’s legacies.
“I felt like I was out of pocket,” Snoop said. “I apologized to him and I let him know. I’m just bettering myself.”
As announced last month, both Snoop and Em—as well as Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar—will be performing at next year’s Super Bowl halftime show. Looking ahead to the highly anticipated moment, Snoop said that—while it’s “hard to explain” the methods behind Dre’s process—the Super Bowl performance stands as a reflection of that process in action.
“This is an L.A. moment,” he said, adding that Jay-Z deserves a special shout-out for “fighting for Dr. Dre” and, by extension, fighting for Snoop’s own legacy.
Catch Snoop’s full interview up top, then click here to see our recent ranking of the Doggfather artist’s all-time best outfits.
