Legendary rapper Snoop Dogg shared his thoughts on the lasting impact of the late 2Pac on his career, stating that he admired his work ethic and now carries “his spirit” inside of him.
Speaking in an interview on the R&B Money Podcast, Snoop left opened up about how the late 2Pac influenced him and the culture at Death Row Records.
To Snoop Dogg, 2Pac encouragement in taking his creativity and style to a new level ultimately led him to become a better version of himself.
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“When 2Pac came to Death Row [Records], he was like, ‘Na, you gotta step your fly up. Na, you gotta get your hair done, your nails did, like the players in the Bay,'” Snoop recalled. “When we did the ‘[2 of] Amerikaz Most Wanted’ video, he specifically said, ‘Na, lay your shit down… I ain’t got no hair, na.'”
The legendary rapper also described 2Pac as someone with a deep understanding of what it meant to be a star and professional, and he says that quickly transformed the operations at Death Row.
“He was way ahead of us. We was just artists, he was a superstar, you see what I’m saying?” Snoop said. “He probably wasn’t a big ass superstar, but he was a superstar as far as knowing and understanding what it takes to be a star.”
In 1996, 2Pac was killed in a drive-by shooting at age 25 but had already been involved in movies and on set, which reportedly helped him understand what Death Row needed to do to succeed.
“He helped us get great at spontaneous things like making music and putting stuff out,” Snoop said.
One of the key ways 2Pac influenced Death Row was in how the label adopted ways to be productive, especially in the studio.
Snoop recalled that before 2Pac’s arrival, time at the studio was often wasted, but the late rapper quickly instilled a new sense of urgency, and that was key in turning things around.
“Studio time became valuable when he was there,” Snoop said. “Before it was just like n**s in there nine hours. Now it’s like, ‘That n*a ‘Pac coming up here looking to work. Whoever in their bullshit gotta get out.’”
Snoop Dogg says he continues to carry 2Pac’s spirit of productivity, particularly now that he owns Death Row Records, a label he acquired in 2022.
“As I move with Death Row now, his spirit is all in me. That’s how I move. I don’t wait. I used to wait,” he said.
The 53-year-old revealed 2Pac helped shift the label’s mindset about music creation from a place of perfecting one song to pushing the team to stay focused on continuous creativity, and it has remained crucial to his successful career.
“With Tupac, n*a, we on song 16 right now. For real,” Snoop said. “While you n**s is listening to songs, he said the engineer’s job is to listen to it, ‘That ain’t my job.’ Makes sense, right? Engineer’s job is to straighten all this shit out, like, we falling in love with the record. ‘What we doing? Get to the next one.’ The next may be better than that one.”
