While he’s best known for his work with Dr. Dre and The Neptunes later in his career, Snoop has always given the up and comers a shot. In an interview with Taj Mahal S-N-double O-P talks about new producers taking advantage of him, and how then Death Row Records head Suge Knight used to rip off the inexperienced.
“I always give niggas a chance … niggas that aint got no name. I love giving them a chance by rapping on they beats,” Snoop said. “I’m just saying when I do that, don’t rob me, rob the next nigga. ‘Cause I’m the nigga you tell people, ‘Yeah, Snoop gave me $20,000 for the beat.’ Nah I ain’t gave you shit, but you tell a nogga I gave you $20,000, that’s how you leverage the game.”
Long Beach native Priest “Soopafly” Brooks became a staple in west coast Hip Hop, producing and playing the keyboards on dozens of songs throughout the ’90s. He can thank Snoop Dogg for his start, certainly not Suge Knight.
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“This nigga Slip Capone and CPO [The Boss Hogg], Soopafly did a beat for them and they didn’t like the beat – ended up being the song on the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, [reciting] ‘9 in the morning feds at my door, [from] ‘Who Got Some Gangsta Shit,'” Snoop recalled, referring to the first song he ever did with Soopafly. “I took the beat, gave him [$5,000], he had never made a beat for nobody, and I gave him his publishing. And I gave him his credit, I could have said produced by Snoop Dogg. I was on Death Row back then, that’s what Suge Knight told me to tell him. He said, ‘Tell that nigga you produced the beat, give him $500 and tell him to kick rocks.’ I said, ‘Nah, I like the lil nigga I think he might be good with our crew and look where he at.”
Soopafly, later a Death Row solo artist, would go on to produce “You Thought” and “Freestyle Conversation” on Snoop’s Tha Doggfather, “Out The Moon” with Snoop and 2Pac on the Gridlock’d OST and “Confessions” from The Lady of Rage’s debut. You can watch the full interview below.
