It's hard to even consider Snoop the "cool uncle" of rap music now. His ability to retain any sort of street cred as a legitimate part of rap music went out the window with his reality TV show, Snoop Dogg's Father Hood. (Get it? Hood...like the slang term for neighborhood. Oh Snoop, you so gangsta!) In the early 90s, there was no more of an authority in rap than the D-O-Double-G. He was the rapper that other artists wanted to guest on their songs, because the words "featuring Snoop Dogg" instantly guaranteed the song would be given serious consideration. Now, with so many hip-hop artists rapping about wealth and fame, you might think it's impossible for any of them to really "sell out." But if you listen to the bulk of Snoop's early discography, there's not much talk of flashiness or gold chain ambitions. He's a party rapper, sure, but he's not wanting to party on yachts. Snoop's big sell out moment came when showed up to "izzle" his way through his appearance in a commercial for AOL. After that it was all downhill for the artist formerly known as Snoop Lion. Now you can find him lending verses to songs by auto-tuned boy bands (Big Time Rush), bubblegum pop princesses (Katy Perry), and fellow out-of-touch rappers (Lil Wayne).
