Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. was born in Long Beach, California, the second of three sons. He was named after his stepfather, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Sr. His mother is Beverly Broadus (nee Tate). His father, Vernell Varnado, was a Vietnam veteran, singer, and mail carrier who was said to be frequently absent from his life.

Snoop signed with Master P's No Limit Records (distributed by Priority/EMI Records) in 1998 and debuted on the label with Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told that year. His other albums from No Limit were No Limit Top Dogg in 1999 (selling over 1,503,865 copies) and Tha Last Meal in 2000 (selling over 2,000,000). In 1999, his autobiography, Tha Doggfather, was published.  In 2002, he released the album Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$, on Priority/Capitol/EMI, with it selling over 1,300,000 copies. The album featured the hit singles "From tha Chuuuch to da Palace" and "Beautiful", featuring guest vocals by Pharrell. By this stage in his career, Snoop Dogg had left behind his "gangster" image and embraced a "pimp" image.  In 2004, Snoop signed to Geffen Records/Star Trak Entertainment both of which were distributed through Interscope Records; Star Trak is headed by producer duo the Neptunes, which produced several tracks for Snoop's 2004 release R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece. "Drop It Like It's Hot" (featuring Pharrell), the first single released from the album, was a hit and became Snoop Dogg's first single to reach number one. His third release was "Signs", featuring Justin Timberlake and Charlie Wilson, which entered the UK chart at No. 2. This was his highest entry ever in the UK chart. The album sold 1,724,000 copies in the U.S. alone, and most of its singles were heavily played on radio and television. Snoop Dogg joined Warren G and Nate Dogg to form the group 213 and released album The Hard Way in 2004. Debuting at No.4 on the Billboard 200 and No.1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, it included single "Groupie Luv". Snoop Dogg appeared in the music video for Korn's "Twisted Transistor", along with fellow rappers Lil Jon, Xzibit, and David Banner,  Snoop Dogg's appeared on two tracks from Ice Cube's 2006 album Laugh Now, Cry Later, including the single "Go to Church", and on several tracks on Tha Dogg Pound's Cali Iz Active the same year. Also, his latest song, "Real Talk", was leaked over the Internet in the summer of 2006 and a video was later released on the Internet. "Real Talk" was a dedication to former Crips leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams and a diss to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California. Two other singles on which Snoop made a guest performance were "Keep Bouncing" by Too $hort (also with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas) and "Gangsta Walk" by Coolio.  Snoop's 2006 album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, debuted on the Billboard 200 at No.5 and has sold over 850,000 copies. The album and the second single "That's That Shit" featuring R. Kelly were well received by critics. In the album, he collaborated in a video with E-40 and other West Coast rappers for his single "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)".  In July 2007, Snoop Dogg made history by becoming the first artist to release a track as a ringtone prior to its release as a single, which was "It's the D.O.G.". On July 7, 2007, Snoop Dogg performed at the Live Earth concert, Hamburg. Snoop Dogg has ventured into singing for Bollywood with his first ever rap for an Indian movie Singh Is Kinng; the title of the song is also "Singh is Kinng". He also appears in the movie as himself. The album featuring the song was released on June 8, 2008 on Junglee Music Records. He released his ninth studio album, Ego Trippin' (selling 400,000 copies in the U.S.), along with the first single, "Sexual Eruption". The single peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 100, featuring Snoop using autotune. The album featured production from QDT (Quik-Dogg-Teddy).  Snoop was appointed an executive position at Priority Records. His tenth studio album, Malice n Wonderland, was released on December 8, 2009. The first single from the album, "Gangsta Luv", featuring The-Dream, peaked at No.35 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album debuted at No.23 on the Billboard 200, selling 61,000 copies its first week, making it his lowest charting album. His third single, "I Wanna Rock", peaked at No.41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The fourth single from Malice n Wonderland, titled "Pronto", featuring Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, was released on iTunes on December 1, 2009. Snoop re-released the album under the name More Malice.  Snoop collaborated with Katy Perry on "California Gurls", the first single from her album Teenage Dream, which was released on May 11, 2010. Snoop can also be heard on the track "Flashing" by Dr. Dre and on Curren$y's song "Seat Change". He was also featured on a new single from Australian singer Jessica Mauboy, titled "Get 'em Girls" (released September 2010). Snoop's latest effort was backing American recording artist, Emii, on her second single entitled "Mr. Romeo" (released October 26, 2010 as a follow-up to "Magic"). Snoop also collaborated with American comedy troupe the Lonely Island in their song "Turtleneck & Chain", in their 2011 album Turtleneck & Chain.  Snoop Dogg's eleventh studio album is Doggumentary. The album went through several tentative titles including Doggystyle 2: Tha Doggumentary and Doggumentary Music: 0020 before being released under the final title Doggumentary during March 2011. Snoop was featured on Gorillaz' latest album Plastic Beach on a track called: "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" with the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, he also completed another track with them entitled "Sumthing Like This Night" which does not appear on Plastic Beach, yet does appear on Doggumentary. He also appears on the latest Tech N9ne album All 6's and 7's (released June 7, 2011) on a track called "Pornographic" which also features E-40 and Krizz Kaliko.  On February 4, 2012, Snoop Dogg announced a documentary, Reincarnated, alongside his new upcoming studio album entitled Reincarnated. The film was released March 21, 2013 with the album slated for release April 23, 2013. On July 20, 2012, Snoop Dogg released a new reggae single, "La La La" under the pseudonym Snoop Lion. Three other songs were also announced to be on the album, "No Guns Allowed", "Ashtrays and Heartbreaks", and "Harder Times".  On July 31, 2012, Snoop introduced a new stage name, Snoop Lion. He told reporters that he was rechristened Snoop Lion by a Rastafarian priest in Jamaica. In response to Frank Ocean coming out, Snoop said hip hop was ready to accept a gay rapper. Snoop recorded an original song for the 2012 fighting game Tekken Tag Tournament 2, titled "Knocc 'Em Down"; and makes a special appearance as a non-playable character in "The Snoop Dogg Stage" arena.  In September of the same year, Snoop released a compilation of electronic music entitled Loose Joints under the moniker DJ Snoopadelic, stating the influence of George Clinton's Funkadelic. 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."  In December 2012, Snoop released his second single from Reincarnated, "Here Comes the King". It was also announced that Snoop worked a deal with RCA Records to release Reincarnated in early 2013. Also in December 2012, Snoop Dogg released a That's My Work a collaboration rap mixtape with Tha Dogg Pound.  In an interview with Hip Hop Weekly on June 17, producer Symbolyc One (S1) announced that Snoop was working on his final album under his rap moniker Snoop Dogg; "I've been working with Snoop, he's actually working on his last solo album as Snoop Dogg." In September 2013 Snoop released a collaboration album with his sons as Tha Broadus Boyz titled Royal Fam. On October 28, 2013, Snoop Dogg released another mixtape entitled That's My Work 2 hosted by DJ Drama. Snoop formed a funk duo with musician Dam-Funk called 7 Days of Funk and released their eponymous debut album on December 10, 2013.

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