Snoop Dogg has shared that he received the ultimate compliment from James Brown regarding his tireless work ethic prior to the soul music legend’s death in 2006.
The West Coast rap deity delivered his Audible episode Words + Music: From the Streets, to the Suites with help from Angie Martinez on Thursday (June 15), which saw him reflect on his final conversation with Brown, who also earned the nickname of The Hardest Working Man in showbiz.
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“James Brown came to see me,” the Death Row icon said. “And the most important shit James Brown said was, ‘You are the hardest working man in the industry. It’s your job to take it where I couldn’t take it.’ And as I’m watching me right now. It’s like he seen it.”
Snoop Dogg tries to instill that same sort of confidence in artists of the next generation, as he’s always open to conversation with the younger rappers and creatives, leaving them with plenty of jewels to apply to their own journeys.
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“I see certain people and be like, ‘That motherfucker going places let me go holler at him and talk to him and give him some information because he looks up to me. And I need to hit him with a jewel so when he’s running to the top, that shit gon always be in his head.'” Snoop Dogg continued.
The 51-year-old hit on plenty of topics from his decorated career in the Words + Music series episode.
He also reflected on his refusal to let Pharrell out rap him on their 2004 “Drop It Like It’s Hot” smash hit, which topped the Hot 100.
“[Pharrell’s] in the back with the keyboards, it’s just him and the engineer,” Snoop said of his session with Skateboard P.
“He ain’t even got the beat all the way made. This how this n-gga get down, he don’t say words, he just [imitates Pharrell’s vocalizations], so it’s my job to make that shit make sense!
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“That third verse … that ain’t it,” he remembered the Neptunes producer saying, after which Snoop bounced back with an ever stronger 16. “That’s what I mean about ‘I like to be produced.’”
