(AllHipHop News) Calvin Broadus aka Mr. Doggystyle has been a rap superstar for so long that it is easy to forget that he is from Long Beach. While he has lived a life of fame and fortune, he actually knows the violence and harassment on the streets that regular people go through.
Which is why he has used his platform to speak out against civil injustice — repeatedly.
While appearing on the Fox Soul show “The Mix,” Snoop Dogg was asked about this generation’s use of social media to share videos of police-violence and if it is hurtful or helpful. He noted the following:
“Well, for many years it was going on without cameras … [These videos] pulled the [cover] off of the real enemy. They didn’t want nobody to see how they get at us. To me, it’s saving lives and showing exactly what we’re up against. Making these songs that we wrote 20 years ago, makes sense,” Snoop Dogg explained.
Snoop noted that the videos are not even enough.
“We still have to fight for that. You know, when it was supposed to be equality and all men created equally … [it’s like] we are still 10% of a man and we’re dealing with people who feel like they are 90% of a man. When it should be 50/50 (or either whatever the number is) because we should be even. We are all equal,” Snoop Dogg said.
Then, Snoop drew attention to how discrimination works in policing, oftentimes giving the white guy the benefit of the doubt that is refused a Black guy.
“What about when you see the white side of the camera? You see the exact same incident with a white person in the police officer … he can beat the police up … he can cuss … he could be fighting … and he gonna make it home…you gonna make it to the state [penitentiary]. [This is what] it is to be Black and what it is to be other.”
His advice to young people was based on what he was told as a kid, “when the police come they should run.”
“People like myself in the 80s when I was a drug dealer, I had encounters with the police where they would beat us up, and they would do certain things to us,” Snoop explained. “So, we naturally ran from them. When I got to the point of being a rapper and started making songs about them and I was criticized by them … now I’m looking at 2020 … and looking at the exact same things happening but now there’s a visual picture to the wall. They are being called out and it’s making them have a conscience. Now, we’re watching and that the world is watching now.”
