Every member of the Alibi’s editorial staff receives about a hundred e-mails a day. Most of them are interoffice communications about coffee filters or a kitchen spill that needs mopping up. With the mundane nature of our normal e-mail chains in mind, it was with great glee that I opened a message from Snoop Dogg’s press person. There was a cherry popsicle’s chance in hell that Snoop Dogg had answered the questions I sent him a couple weeks ago.My prayers were answered. What follows is the Alibi’s Snoop Dogg e-interview. Talk about the Blazed and Confused Tour coming to Journal Pavilion. I got the homies Slightly Stoopid, and Stephen Marley on the tour with me, and you already know tha business. Shout out 2 all my fans comin’ to the show at Albuquerque, New Mexico! Chuuch! For someone who’s been in the game for so long, is it ever hard to get yourself to try new rhyme schemes or producers or anything else that might be different sonically? Nah, cuz Snoop Dogg is all about innovatin’ and tryin’ new sounds. My last record Ego Trippin is a great example. If you listen through it, you see that I worked with different producers and different types of music. I had a country record called My Medicine , and I even did a remix of it with Willie Nelson! I’mma be changin’ the game once again when I drop my next album, Malice In Wonderland, at tha end of the year, so be on tha look out for that. How do you maintain street cred even though you’re a millionaire? I’m a Snoop Dogg Millionaire. I still got the street cred because no matter how big I get, I’m still always tied into the streets and the community. I been workin’ with the Long Beach Council to help redevelop the 6 th District and build the Kroc Center. I also got the Snoop Youth Football League where I have over 3,000 kids participatin’ from Compton, Watts, South Central and Pomona. What do you make of the current state of hip-hop? The current state of hip-hop isn’t doin’ too well, but that just means everybody got to step their game up, and release some better music. But as a whole, the entire record industry is sufferin’. What are the biggest challenges hip-hop faces? Tha biggest challenge that hip-hop faces on tha West Coast is that our own artists aren’t receivin’ the right support from our radio stations. Are there any young and talented MCs you think will be big stars soon? On tha West Coast, I been workin’ with these new cats, The Hustle Boyz. You might have heard them on the song I did with them called “Snoop Dogg Millionaire.” Another talented MC that people should be payin’ attention to is Bad Lucc from Watts. He dope right now. I also been listenin’ to Kid Cudi. He from New York. His “Day N Nite” song be bangin’. Anything else? Albuquerque, New Mexico … You know what time it is! “Blazed and Confused.”
You heard Snoop. Blazed and Confused comes to the Journal Pavilion Tuesday, July 14. The all-ages show starts at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 to $37.15 (plus service fees) available through livenation.com.
