Birth name Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.
Also known as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tha Doggfather, D-O-Double-G
Born October 20, 1971
Born in Long Beach, California, Calvin Broadus was active in music from a young age, singing in his church choir when he was ten years old. Outside of church, Broadus often found himself in trouble, both in school and with the law for selling and doing drugs. He later attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where he began taking part in schoolyard freestyle MCing competitions.
(The Crips, originating in Los Angeles, California, are one of the oldest, largest, most violent and most notorious of African American gangs in the United States. They have been involved in murders, robberies and drug dealing in the Los Angeles area.)
As a member of a local Crips gang in Long Beach called ES Rollin' 20's Crips, Snoop Dogg was in and out of jail for the three years after he graduated from high school. Pushed by older inmates to make something of himself, he began making homemade rap tapes with his cousin Nate Dogg and best friend Warren G.Originally, Nate's cousin Lil' 1/2 Dead was also part of the group, called 213, named after the Long Beach area code. This was largely in homage to Richie Rich's group 415, named for the (then) area code of Oakland, California.