Snoop Dogg
Early life
As a teenager, Calvin frequently ran into trouble with the law. He was a member of the Rollin' 20s Crips gang in the Eastside area of Long Beach; although in 1993 he denied reports then in rampant circulation among police and media sources by stating that he never joined a gang. Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine, and for the next three years, was frequently in and out of jail or prison, including Wayside Jail. With his two cousins Nate Dogg and Lil' ½ Dead and friend Warren G, Snoop recorded homemade tapes; the four called their group 213 after the area code of their native Long Beach at that time. One of Snoop's early solo freestyles over "Hold On" by En Vogue was on a mixtape that fortuitously wound up with Dr. Dre; the influential producer was so impressed by the sample that he called Snoop to invite him to an audition. Former N.W.A affiliate The D.O.C. taught him how to structure his lyrics and separate the thematics into verses, hooks, and choruses.
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