The Gangsta Next Door: Snoop Dogg

SNOOP DOGG recorded his first verse with Dr. Dre back in 1992, on the song "Deep Cover." It opened with the quatrain "Creep with me as I crawl through the hood/Maniac, lunatic, call him Snoop Eastwood/Kickin' dust as I bust, [expletive] peace/And the [longer expletive] drug police," and continued full steam ahead all the way to Snoop's first famous catchphrase: "Yeah, and you don't stop/'Cause it's 187 on an undercover cop."

Now Snoop is America's most beloved gangsta — he's appeared in a commercial with former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, served as benevolent paterfamilias on the reality series "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood," and given white America the option of inserting the syllables "izzle" into random words as a means to be down without being, you know, too far down. At Nissan Pavilion this Sunday, Snoop will even appear with Nebraskan groovers 311 on the "Unity Tour." Awww!

How did the former Calvin Broadus go from Snoop the lyrical cop killer to suburbia's gangsta next door? Though time may have softened his rhymes a teeny-tiny bit, he's retained the musical instincts and skill to supply his audience with whatever it needs. "Whatever the game is missing, I'm like a chameleon. I blend in," he told dubcnn.com in a January 2007 interview. And yet "my music is not an image; my music is what I'm feeling at that time. I'm the person, regardless whether it's an R&G ["Rhythm & Gangsta," his 2004] record, or it's a gangsta record, it's still Snoop Dogg!"

L'essence de Snoop has successfully shone in contexts as varied as the ur-G-funk banger "Nuthin' but a G Thang," the blissful for-the-ladies joint "Beautiful," and his latest hit, the smooth-as-ice AutoTuned croon of "Sensual Seduction" (or, as it's known on the "Ego Trippin'" album, "Sexual Eruption").

And 1992, in pop-cultural terms, was a long time ago; except for a few lonely culture warriors, we seem to have embraced the notions that pimps are neat, some drugs are OK and using derogatory terms for women isn't a firing offense.

It helps that the Dogg doesn't commit big, gut-wrenching crimes, mostly just possession of marijuana and firearms, meaning we chuckle when foreign countries declare Snoop a threat to their fragile morals. So it was that America embraced Snoop's No. 1 hit, "Drop it Like It's Hot," in which he proudly proclaimed his Crip allegiance. After all, it was an incredibly good song.

» Nissan Pavilion, 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow, Va.; Sun., 6:30 p.m., $31-$52.50; 800-551-7328.

Written by Andrew Lindemannn Malone
Photos courtesy Geffen