A$AP Rocky and veteran hip-hop star Snoop Lion took part in Noisey’s “Back & Forth” series, and in the first installment, the two stars discussed the pressures of fame and dealing with success. Snoop reflected on his early days as a hip-hop star in the early 1990s; and he revealed to Rocky just how treacherous newfound fame can be.
Rocky asked Snoop if he could still remember what it was like when his debut album, Doggy Style, was released 20 years ago.
“Yeah, I remember that feeling,” said Snoop. “ ‘Cause I was still in the neighborhood. I was still a part of the ‘hood. And despite all this big s— that was going on around me, I still was the same person. So, it couldn’t affect me. It never got bigger than me. And I see the same thing with you as far as being connected with all your homies. How you started off and how it was all about you and your homies. That’s what it was about with me, me and my homies. Making sure everybody eat [sic]. Making sure everybody’s involved, but as you grow you lose certain homies. Because it’s called closing the gap. This is the gap when we started. This is the gap as you grow. Notice how you grow and they don’t. So, how do you close the gap? You gotta come back down. When you come back down, you lose. So, you gotta keep going up. That’s why closing the gap gotta be them catching up to you. And if they don’t catch up, you gotta leave ‘em behind.”
Snoop revealed that even one of his closest associates, fellow former Death Row artist Daz Dillinger, turned on him at one point.
“I had to cut out family members. Me and my cousin Daz fell out before,” said the rapper. “When me and him fell out it was like how do you fall out with [me] — I taught you everything you know. I put you in the game. And you go against me? But that’s what the laws of the game do. It puts you in a position to where sometimes you have to have these types of situations to see who really ‘posed to be there. This s— ain’t made for everybody. You know what I’m saying? It’s like everybody ain’t gonna be a f—in star.”
