Amazon.com Review
Multiplatinum-selling gangsta rapper, serial marijuana abuser ... and God-fearing family man? That's how
Snoop Dogg tells it in
Tha Doggfather, a straightforward (by his lights, anyway) telling of his own story. From slinging crack in the ghetto of Long Beach, California, to rapping the tales that brought hip-hop to a new level commercially in the early '90s, to a murder charge that he beat in 1996, this is Snoop's story. Many of the facts won't surprise, though his candor might; the former Calvin Broadus isn't much interested in apologizing, even for things he might have done that potentially conflicted with his current goal to "increase the peace." Some of the guy's pronouncements would fit right in on the milder-mannered daytime talk shows ("God is on your side and... He cares about you trying the best you can, no matter who you are"), while others are so edgily funny he hasn't even managed to fit them into a rap ("there's nothing more dangerous than a Sherm head with an attitude," he says of those whose high of choice is a cigarette dipped in embalming fluid). Snoop cautiously criticizes now-imprisoned former
Death Row Records head Suge Knight while skirting the hard questions about friend
Tupac Shakur's death after a Las Vegas shooting incident. Some things, it seems, are a little hard even for tha Doggfather to ponder.
--Rickey Wright
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
In this cross between a memoir and a manifesto, rapper Snoop Dogg (aka Calvin Broadus) saves discussions of his hip-hop career until the book's last quarter. For most of the book, he delivers candid thoughts and colorful anecdotes from his upbringing in Long Beach, Calif., to his time as a gangbanger, jailed drug dealer, musician and cultural lightning rod, all told in lucid prose that maintains the inflections of street talk. When Snoop does reach the part of his life with which his fans might be familiar, he has become so likable that readers will cheer for his professional success and acquittal on murder charges. Certainly Snoop has his unapologetic moments: he rants, "until you can give them [inner city youth] something better to belong to--and I'm not talking about midnight basketball or summer jobs or junior fucking achievers--they're going to be shooting at each other." But beneath this bluster is an introspection rare among the celebrity class. Snoop wonders, "What did it all [partying] have to do with making music?" He explains: "I wanted my life to be like one of those action movie previews we saw down at the multiplex--all the highlights singled out and strung together... but I don't have to tell you that most of those movies turn out to be a ripoff." Like the verses Snoop raps, his book comes fast and full of insight. 25 photos. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
