Snoop Dogg has long been renowned as one of the coolest men in music but he reckons only one person has ever 'out-gangstered' him.
The American rapper and music producer, known for his catchy songs and affinity for a certain substance, is cherished within the industry thanks to his consistently good vibes, even if he did cause Ed Sheeran to temporarily lose his 'ability to see' once.
The 53-year-old rose to prominence in the 90s and became one of the best-known names within gangster rap, with even the likes of Ice Cube, Eazy-E and The Notorious B.I.G arguably not as recognisable as the big Dogg.
However, his music has evolved somewhat over the past 30 years, and one meeting in particular may have had a significant influence on that.
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Snoop's previously explicit song titles of 'B***h Please' and 'F**k wit Dre Day' now appear to be very much a thing of the past.
And it seems as if that has a lot to do with Dionne Warwick, the six-time Grammy Award winner who invited Snoop, Suge Knight, and several other rappers to her home for a 7am meeting, with the musicians cautious not to be late.
Snoop was less Snoopy and more Charlie Brown as he arrived at Warwick's home at 6:52am, ready for an early morning telling off from the legendary singer and actress.
“We were kind of like scared and shook up,” Snoop said when he heard about the invite. “We’re powerful right now, but she’s been powerful forever. Thirty-some years in the game, in the big home with a lot of money and success.”
Warwick was less than impressed with the rise in misogynistic lyrics and asked the rappers to call her a b***h to her face, since it was so commonly used in their music.
“These kids are expressing themselves, which they’re entitled to do. However, there’s a way to do it,” Warwick said in the 2021 CNN Film, Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over.
Warwick told them: “You guys are all going to grow up. You’re going have families. You’re going to have children. You’re going to have little girls and one day that little girl is going to look at you and say, ‘Daddy, did you really say that? Is that really you?’ What are you going to say?”
The rappers were shocked to hear their own lyrics being used against them by such a big name in the industry, and it really brought Snoop down a peg after being called out for it.
“She was checking me at a time when I thought we couldn’t be checked,” Snoop explained. “We were the most gangsta as you could be but that day at Dionne Warwick’s house, I believe we got out-gangstered that day.”
Snoop became the father to three boys and one girl, as Warwick predicted, and it seems as if he still holds her in high regard all these years later.
He said: “Dionne, I hope I became the jewel that you saw when I was the little, dirty rock that was in your house. I hope I’m making you proud.”
I think we can all agree that the world would be a better place if Warwick were to invite some of the musicians of today to her house for another telling off.
You know what they say, everybody's a gangster until a real gangster walks in.
Topics: Snoop Dogg, Celebrity
James Moorhouse