A year ago, the big Hollywood hip-hop story was that Snoop Dogg, a one-time murder suspect, had successfully recast himself as a sly but safe mainstream brand-name: As a movie star, an in-demand corporate pitchman and even as a celebrity coach for local youth football, the old gangsta scowl was gone and Snoop seemed almost, well, cuddly.
This just in: Snoop still has hard edges.
The 34-year-old rapper has three felony arrests since Labor Day, all related to alleged drug and weapon violations, which means his upcoming months will be tied up at best with court hearings and at worst with jail time. Neither of those prospects is alluring to Hollywood producers who had come to view Snoop as a favored icon of urban street culture with his roles in "Racing Stripes," the "Starsky & Hutch" remake, "Soul Plane" and "Old School."
Handcuffs and gavels don't scare off rap music fans, of course -- just the opposite. Snoop and his new CD, "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment," which entered the national sales chart this week at No. 5, will only gain street cred with the Wednesday morning footage of a dour Snoop leaving the Burbank jail dressed in USC cardinal and gold. In fact, these days it seems difficult for a rapper to climb the charts without a police escort. Snoop is one of four hip-hop acts in the Top 10 this week: There's the Game (arrested Nov. 16 for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer), rap-scene singer Akon (who did time for armed robbery and named his new CD "Konvicted") and the late Tupac Shakur (who was convicted of multiple felonies before his murder 10 years ago).
But unlike those others, Snoop (whose real name is Calvin Broadus) has also tried to win over Hollywood and Madison Avenue. The lanky Long Beach native played up the humor that has laced some of his biggest hits as well as his own laconic charisma and red-eyed reputation (he's long been viewed as rap's pot-puffing equivalent of Cheech & Chong) to become not just a comedy actor but also a pitchman for T-Mobile, Orbit chewing gum and XM Satellite Radio. For Nokia, he was the halftime act at the Sugar Bowl, and for a Chrysler television ad he and Lee Iacocca mugged together during a round of golf.
The pop-culture ubiquity has made Snoop a known name and face well beyond hip-hop and put his name on a dizzying array of products that include foot-long hot dogs, malt liquor, skateboards, toys, pet accessories, clothes and a Swiss confection called Chronic Candy that is advertised as tasting like marijuana. He's on the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine pictured in a crooked Santa cap. The headline calls him "America's Most Lovable Pimp."
