Today in Hip-Hop — October 20: Snoop Dogg Turns 55, and the Cousin Who Drew Doggystyle

October 20, 1971. Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. is born in Long Beach, California. Snoop Dogg is 55 today. The name came from home before it came from the streets: his mother called him “Snoopy” because he loved the Peanuts beagle and, as she saw it, looked like him. Thirty-plus years, a pile of aliases and one Olympics later, the West Coast’s most recognizable voice still answers to his mom’s nickname.

From a Cassette to Death Row

It started with a tape. Warren G, who rapped with Snoop and Nate Dogg in 213, put a Snoop cassette in Dr. Dre’s hands. Dre put him on the theme for the 1992 film Deep Cover first, then all over The Chronic. By the time “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” was everywhere, the drawl had already eaten up half the album. Critic Peter Shapiro put it best: a Slick Rick flow, but born in South Carolina instead of South London.

That Slick Rick line isn’t just a metaphor. Look at the writing credits for “Lodi Dodi” on Doggystyle: Douglas Davis and Ricky Walters, better known as Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick. Snoop redid “La Di Da Di” almost word for word in a Long Beach accent and gave a 1985 Harlem record to a whole new generation. Our Slick Rick songs breakdown covers the lineage.

When Doggystyle finally landed on November 23, 1993, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with more than 806,000 copies in week one. That was the record for a debut artist and the fastest-selling rap album the SoundScan era had seen. “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” and “Gin and Juice” took G-funk past the West Coast and turned it into the national sound.

Here’s the receipt most heads never clock: that cartoon cover, the doghouse and the comic-strip chaos, wasn’t drawn by a label art department. It was drawn by Snoop’s cousin, Darryl “Joe Cool” Daniel, who also did Tha Last Meal and The Game’s 1992. Joe Cool passed in July 2024. Every time somebody wears that cover, they’re wearing family art.

We made a Doggystyle tee that keeps Joe Cool’s G-funk cartoon energy front and center. Pair it with our Chronic tee, the album where you first heard the drawl.

Also Today in Hip-Hop

• 1992 — Grand Puba, Reel to Reel (34 years). The Brand Nubian frontman’s solo debut on Elektra. “360 Degrees (What Goes Around)” flips Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Don’t Burn Down the Bridge”, and Mary J. Blige returned Puba’s What’s the 411? favor on “Check It Out”.
• 1998 — Kool G Rap, Roots of Evil (28 years). Mafioso rap from the Corona legend, released on his own Illstreet label. Miss Jones sings the hook on “Can’t Stop the Shine”.
• 2017 — Blu & Exile, In the Beginning: Before the Heavens. Fourteen songs from the original 2007 Below the Heavens sessions, picked from more than 40 tracks in the vault. Raw and untouched, on Fat Beats/Dirty Science.
• Born today, 1988 — A$AP Ferg. Harlem’s self-named Trap Lord turns 38. His debut album Trap Lord (2013) and Always Strive and Prosper (2016) both reached the Billboard 200 top ten.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team