Everything
Words: Chloe Watts
Hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg turns 49 today. With a career spanning almost thirty years, he’s had his fair share of hits, scandals and memorable moments. For an entertainer to stay relevant for three decades, it requires an understanding of the industry and the ability to relate to listeners, in all their different stages of life.
While Snoop may have the musical side of his career figure out, he’s taken it to a more personal level through his charitable endeavours that has seen him giving back to the community for a number of years. Elsewhere, the realest rapper is also sharing inspiration and self-love.
To celebrate his birthday, we look back at how Snoop Dogg became our hero for the greater community.
READ: SNOOP DOGG IS CREATING HIS OWN GIN
Snoop Youth Football League
Snoop Dogg set up the Snoop Youth Football League (SYFL) in 2005 with the goal of helping kids avoid the gangbanger life on the streets. Aiming to stop the violence, the league goes into some of the roughest communities and puts together kids, ex-gangbangers and coaches to create an environment where kids can learn the values of teamwork, discipline, self-respect and strict academic guidelines.
Originally starting in South California, the SYFL has moved into Northern California and Texas, and now boasts a collective of 5,000 players and 750 cheerleaders. On his free days, Snoop Dogg can be seen coaching the teams.
Turkeys for Thanksgiving
Joining forces with the city of Inglewood, Snoop Dogg takes to the streets to spread the meaning of Thanksgiving and hands out turkeys and other thanksgiving essentials to the locals. Snoop has been taking part in this thanksgiving tradition since 2014 and in 2019, handed out over 1,000 turkeys and spent time with Inglewood residents.
Mind Gardens Project
Back in 2012, Snoop Dogg announced his partnership with Reeds Ginger Brew on a not-for-profit initiative to create sustainable community gardens in Jamaica. After taking a trip to Jamaica, Snoop was moved by the poverty and lack of food available for children in some communities and decided to give back to the country that had inspired him so much.
“I Wanna Thank Me”
Outside Snoop Dogg’s philanthropist endeavours, the 49-year-old his sharing a little self-love advice. The best example is his Walk of Fame speech in Hollywood in 2019, where the artist’s ‘I Wanna Thank Me’ speech went viral.
“I want to thank me for believing in me, I want to thank me for doing all this hard work. I wanna thank me for having no days off. I wanna thank me for never quitting. I wanna thank me for always being a giver and trying to give more than I receive. I wanna thank me for trying to do more right than wrong. I wanna thank me for being me at all times, Snoop Dogg you a bad motherf**ker,” he announced.
Shortly after the rapper thanked “G.O.D”.
