Snoop Dogg/Biography

==Life and career==
===Early life===
Named after his stepfather, Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Sr. (December 10, 1948 - November 9, 1985, Los Angeles), Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. was born on October 20, 1971 at the Los Altos Hospital in Long Beach, California, the second of three sons of Beverly Broadus (née Tate; born April 27, 1951, McComb, Mississippi). His father, Vernall Varnado (born December 13, 1949, Magnolia, Mississippi), was a Vietnam veteran, singer, and mail carrier who was said to be frequently absent from his life. Broadus' parents said to frequently absent from his life. Broadus' parents nicknamed him "Snoopy" as a child because of his appearance, but usually addressed him as Calvin at home. His mother and stepfather divorced in 1975. At an early age, Broadus began singing in Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church and playing piano, when he was in sixth grade, he began rapping. He attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and was convicted for cocaine possession, serving six months at the Wayside County Jail.
As a teenager, Snoop Dogg frequently ran into trouble with the law. Snoop Dogg was a member of the Rollin' 20 Crips gang in the Eastside of Long Beach, although he stated in 1993 that he never joined a gang. Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine. Snoop Dogg's conviction caused him to be frequently in and out of prison for the first three years after he graduated from high school. Snoop, along with his cousins Nate Dogg and Lil' ½ Dead and friend Warren G, recorded home made tapes as a group called 213, named after the Long Beach area code at the time. One of his early solo freestyles over En Vogue's Hold On had made it to a mixtape, which was heard by influential producer Dr. Dre, who phoned to invite him to an audition. Former N.W.A. member The D.O.C. taught him how to structure his lyrics and separate the thematics into verses, hooks and chorus.
Category:Snoop Dogg
Category:Biography