Snoop Dogg was born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. Interestingly, he was named after his stepfather, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Sr.

"My momma gave me the name," Snoop explains. "I used to love Peanuts and Charlie Brown -- Snoopy was my favorite cartoon character growing up. I watched so much, I started to look like him."

Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine. In August 1993, he was arrested in connection with the death of a rival gang member who was shot and killed by Snoop's bodyguard; both men were later acquitted. Snoop was arrested again in October 2006 at Bob Hope Airport for possession of a firearm and for suspicion of transporting an unspecified amount of marijuana.

His music career began in 1992 when he was discovered by Dr. Dre and featured on Dre's solo debut, "Deep Cover", and then on Dre's solo debut album, The Chronic.

The distinctive sounds of Doggystyle helped introduce the hip-hop subgenre of g-funk to a mainstream audience.

Snoop & 2Pac performed this duet at the House of Blues on July 4, 1996. It was the last song 2Pac would perform live as he was gunned down in Las Vegas just a few months later.

He played Starsky & Hutch's street-wise informant Huggy Bear.

In 2012, after a trip to Jamaica, Snoop announced a conversion to Rastafarianism and told reporters he had been rechristened Snoop Lion by a Rastafarian priest in Jamaica. As Snoop Lion he released a reggae album, Reincarnated, and a documentary film of the same name, about his Jamaican experience. His 13th studio album, Bush, was released in May 2015 and marked a return of the Snoop Dogg name.

In an interview with The Fader magazine, Snoop stated "Snoop Lion, Snoop Dogg, DJ Snoopadelic--they only know one thing: make music that's timeless and bangs."

The song is an ode to the state of California, in which both Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg were born and raised.