Snoop Dogg has shared his grief over the death of his cousin, Darryl “Joe Cool” Daniel, who is best known for drawing his iconic Doggystyle album cover.
The West Coast rap legend took to Instagram on Monday (July 22) to announce the passing of his relative and reflect on some of the good times they shared together.
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Snoop posted a video of him and Joe Cool hanging out backstage while his older cousin lamented losing money on the Raiders and Snoop rapped along to his 2017 track “Promise You This.”
He captioned the clip: “R. I. P. [prayer hands emoji, crying emoji] my big cuzn joe cool.”
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Daz Dillinger, who is also a cousin to Snoop Dogg and Joe Cool, paid tribute by posting a carousel of photos on Instagram, including one of the three of them together in the early ’90s.
“REST N PEACE DARYL JOE COOL DANIEL [explosion emoji, 100 emoji] MY BIGG CUZZN THIS REALLY HURTS WE GREW UP TOGETHER U WAS THERE FROM DAY ONE IM GONE REALLY REALLY MISS U BIGG CUZ [prayer hands emoji],” he wrote.
Tributes and condolences also poured in from many of Snoop and Daz’s friends, including Wiz Khalifa, Mike Epps, DJ Pooh, The D.O.C., Hi-Tek, KXNG Crooked and former NBA player Matt Barnes.
“Daaaaaaaaaaaamn. Sorry for your loss bro. RIP to the homie Joe Cool,” Barnes commented on Snoop’s post, while Epps added: “Rip Joe [praying hands emoji].”
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A cause of death is not yet known.
In addition to designing the artwork for Snoop Dogg’s seminal 1993 debut, Joe Cool’s distinctive illustrations also graced the covers of Snoop’s Tha Last Meal and The Game‘s 1992 albums.
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The Long Beach native also created original designs for adidas, Supreme and 7-11, released a children’s book called Where’s the Cheese? and involved himself in comedy, acting and motivational speeches.
In an interview with HipHopDX in 2013, Joe Cool explained how the artwork for Doggystyle came about.
After being released from prison and kicking a crack addiction in the early 1990s, he received a call from his soon-to-be-rap-star cousin about designing the cover for his Dr. Dre-produced debut album.
“Snoop came to me and he told me, ‘I want you to draw my cover, man,’” Cool said. “I said, ‘You serious?’ He said, ‘Yeah. We gonna pay you, gonna give you some money.’
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“He gave me the idea. He said, ‘Well, Dr. Dre really wants a picture of me on top of a doghouse, reaching over, feeling on a dog’s ass or something. But I want you to draw it, though. We’ll run it by Dre.’ Dre said, ‘Alright. Go ahead.’”
Joe Cool went on to explain that he had his then-girlfriend pose on his mother’s couch, which is what the doghouse and the female dog entering it on the cover are based on. He then added his own humorous captions to the illustration.
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“I didn’t think it would be iconic, man,” he added. “And then when it sold as many as it sold [over 800,000 copies first-week], and I seen my shit up there, it just gave me like, ‘Damn. I can’t believe it. My artwork is out there.’
“[Snoop] gave me the opportunity, man. He got me a little bit of 15 minutes of fame up in the world. It’s been 20 years, man. He gave me that opportunity. Man I love him for it.”
