Snoop Dogg says that he considered joining the military before his music career exploded. The legendary West Coast rapper reflected on the period in his life during a post on Instagram in honor of Memorial Day.
“1989, man,” he began in a video. “We were finna graduate from high school, right? So we went down to the registration office downtown at Long Beach. Me, Duke and a couple other homies. So we’re in there filling out the paperwork and I’m looking at all the questions that they asking me and tryna decide, ‘Do I really wanna go through with this Air Force thing?'”
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He continued: “I told Duke, I said, ‘Duke, give me a minute. I’ll be right back, I’ma go the car.’ Went to the car and never came back. And then four years later, my homeboy was a true vet, Air Force soldier. I love you for that, man. Appreciate the love, man. All the troops out there, y’all know I love y’all. It’s Snoop Dogg, man. One love. I wish I coulda been, shoulda been, but it ain’t no thing but a chicken wing ’cause I’m a soldier at heart.”
Snoop wouldn't have been the first in his family to join the military. He's previously spoken about how his father, Vernell Varnado, served in the Vietnam War. He received a Purple Heart after being shot four times. Appearing on The Howard Stern Show in 2018, he recalled: “He told me when he got to Vietnam, the life expectancy for a Black male was 16.4 seconds. They would send those Black guys to the front line to deal with the Vietnamese, and what about what’s behind them?"
Snoop Dogg's Memorial Day Video
In addition to his father, Snoop's cousin, Nate Dogg, also dropped out of high school to join the Marines. He spent three years as an ammunition specialist before being discharged.
[Via]
