Calvin Broadus Jr. was born in Long Beach in 1971. He was named after his stepfather, but the name never really stuck. Instead, friends and family started calling him by the name of his favourite cartoon character, who his mother thought he resembled.
At age six he was performing in the church choir, and by grade six he was rapping in school hallways, freestyling and attracting crowds so big that teachers thought there were fights happening.Life was troubled. Broadus was in and out of jail after high school. But his love for rapping never diminished. With his two cousins, who went by the names Nate Dogg and Lil' ½ Dead, and his friend Warren G, Snoop recorded homemade mixtapes. And fate would have it, that one of these tapes landed in the hands of Dr. Dre. he immediately called Broadus to an audition.
Partnering with Dr Dre and featuring on his hit album the Chronic made Broadus one of the hottest properties in music. The world was ready to see what he could do on his own and in 1993 he would release his debut album. As he would later go on to say, nine trizzay was the yizzear for him to fuck up shit.
On November 23rd, 1993, Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard charts, selling over 800,000 copies in its first week and becoming the fastest selling hip hop release ever. It was certified four times platinum in the US and has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, firmly established as one of the most important rap albums ever produced.
Which is why it's kind of shocking that it wasn't even the most successful album released that day. Ace of Base's The Sign also came out on November 23rd, 1993 and is one of the best selling albums of all time, selling over 21 million copies and picking up a grammy nomination for best pop album along the way.
How do these two albums stizzack against each other? Why did Snoop Dogg do his hair like Shirley Temple? Why do Ace of Base have some REAL Nazi vibes coming off them? And how many orgies has our guest been in? We're gonna find out. Welcome to When Albums Collide.