We covered Snoop Dogg’s tour stop in Raleigh NC on 12/19/20

I don’t think I need to write any introduction about this iconic rapper who goes by the name Snoop Dogg but let me give you an overview. Snoop Dogg was one of the most influential and important rappers of the 90’s. His style of rap helped put the highly (at times) controversial rap style called “Gangsta Rap” to the forefront of people’s minds. Now, Snoop was not one of the founding fathers of this style of rap which dates back to the early 80’s, but Snoop Dogg along with Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, Warren G and many others brought it to the main stream in the early 90’s. Snoop’s relaxed and mellow rapping style garnered massive radio hits like “Who am I” and “Gin and Juice”. He also had iconic collaborations with Dr. Dre bringing us classics such as “Nuthin But a G Thang”, “Still Dre” and one of the most popular songs from Dr. Dre’s album COMPTON called “Next Episode”. He has also collaborated with rap icons XZibit, Tupac Shakur, Nate Dogg, Warren G, The Game, Wiz Khalifia, Ludacris, Eminem and many others.

Snoop Dogg has not only had a successful music career but he has also been in movies with his most recent acting cred was playing alongside Eddie Murphy in “Dolemite is my Name” Snoop Dogg has such an incredible resume that includes hit albums, iconic musical collaborations and movie cameo’s that it would be impossible to list them all here.

Now let’s talk about his show.
I arrived at the venue as fans started to form a line outside waiting to get in. This show was sold out and I even heard from a few people that it was oversold, which means tickets were sold after it was already sold out. When I got inside the venue there was already a performer on stage, and I believe the name of the rapper was “Trigg”. I unfortunately did not cover his performance so I can’t say much about him. Snoop though, did have six rap artists supporting the show that night which gave fans an eclectic variation of rap styles to get their juices flowing before Snoops performance. You will see a few pictures of each rap artists in this article as well. Each rap artist had their own stage presence and rap style. A few of the openers gave uninteresting performances that were just plain boring to watch while others gave an energized and enthusiastic performance that got the crowd revved up. Once the supporting artists were done the crowd got ready for Snoop Dogg to make his entrance. I and a few other media photographers were waiting by the side of the stage for security to give us the go ahead to enter the pit. The lights went dim and security waved us into the pit. We walked in and found our spots. I was standing to the far left of the stage and had an eagle’s eye view of the back part of the stage where the artists wait before coming onto the stage. The venue was dark, but I could see the icon himself Snoop Dogg standing with his security team waiting for his entrance music to start. Once the music started Snoop walked out and the sold-out crowd screamed as the pounding bass riffs shook your legs with each thump. Snoop walked out in Snoop style, slow and mellow with a blunt in hand. As the crowd was screaming Snoop slowly walked up to the front of the stage and went into his first song. Now Snoop is not known for running around the stage or putting on highly energized performances but that is ok, that is just not Snoops style. He brings a very laid back, relaxed and almost super chilled out energy to the stage that honestly sucks you in and makes you want to be in the moment. He walked around the stage making sure to engage with the fans with body gestures as well as talking to the fans between each song. During his second song I noticed two women in thongs walk out onto the stage. I am pretty sure it would not be a Snoop Dogg show unless you had some professional pole dancers on stage with him. These dancers were doing things that were very impressive, I get winded walking up stairs and these women are holding themselves up high on these poles doing all sorts of acrobatic moves. Just saying, you got to have a great cardiovascular system for that!

Snoops performance was enjoyable to watch, and he really looked like he was having a great time being there. He also sounded great during his performance. I do though only have one main criticism and that is the partial performance of certain classic songs. He would start a song and the crowd would go wild then stop after the first verse and go into another song. I have covered rap and hip-hop concerts before and have seen this trend in the past, so I know it’s not something new. I even talked to a fan at the show that told me they were a little disappointed he would only play one verse of a certain song then stop. I found this a little disappointing myself because fans are paying good money to hear these classic and iconic rap songs from their youth and to only hear one verse is disappointing. This was not something constant throughout the show it only happened maybe twice but that is two times to many.

Snoop is a lot of fun to watch and seeing him on stage is a very cool experience. He is a living icon in the rap and hip-hop genre of music so if you get the chance to see him live, don’t miss out on it. You will have a great time!

~Lead Photographer Chris Sturk

Artist - Trae The Truth | Photo by Chris Sturk

Website:

http://snoopdogg.com/

SNOOP DOGG LIVE!! | D.O DOUBLE G

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