Snoop Dogg History

Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1972), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is a Grammy Award-nominated American rapper, singer, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as an MC in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of producer Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. His catch phrase is "-izzle," a slang term developed by Oakland, California rap group 3X Krazy in the mid-1990s and popularized primarily by fellow Bay Area rapper E-40.
His mother nicknamed him "Snoopy" as a child because of the way he dressed and because of his love of the cartoon Peanuts; he took the stage name Snoop Doggy Dogg when he began recording. He changed his name to Snoop Dogg in 1998, when he left his original record label Death Row Records and signed with No Limit Records.

Biography
Early life
Snoop Dogg was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Beverly Tate and Vernell Varnado, who was a singer and postal worker. Snoop Dogg began performing at an early age in Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church church and began rapping in sixth grade. He was playing piano at age five and doing plays. He credits this experience with helping him be comfortable performing in front of people and losing stage fright. Snoop Dogg attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, then changed to Lindhberg High School and was later convicted for cocaine trafficking and served six month at the Wayside County Jail, (Snoop mentioned in his reality show, "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood", that his uncle was influential in his family moving to Los Angeles from Southern Mississippi, proving the rarely mentioned rumor that he was originally from there). Snoop Dogg was a member of a local Crips gang in Long Beach. Snoop Dogg's conviction caused him to be in and out of prison for the first three years after he graduated from high school. Snoop thus followed up on the homemade rap tapes that he had made with his cousin Nate Dogg and best friend Warren G (stepbrother of Dr. Dre of N.W.A). Originally, Snoop's and Nate's cousin Lil' 1/2 Dead was also part of the group, called 213, named after the Long Beach area code at the time. This was largely in homage to Richie Rich's group 415, which was named for the (then) area code of Oakland, California (now the area code of San Francisco and its northern neighbor Marin County). One of his early solo freestyle over En Vogue's "Hold on" had made it to a mixtape, which was heard by Dr. Dre, who phoned to invite him to an audition. Former N.W.A member The D.O.C. taught him how to structure his lyrics and separate the thematics into verses, hooks and chorus. Several of his cousins also became hip hop artists and Aftermath collaborators, including RBX, Joe Cool, and his cousins, Nate Dogg and Daz Dillinger. He's also the nephew of Soul/Gospel singer Willie Norwood and cousin of his R&B singing children Ray J and Brandy and he recently released "Smokin Trees" with Ray J and a duet with Brandy was pre-recorded for Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, but was not part of the album.


Legal issues
• On August 25, 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice in the killing of reputed gang member Philip Woldemariam in Woodbine Park in the Palms district of West Los Angeles. Broadus' bodyguard actually pulled the trigger and claimed self-defense at the trial. Both were acquitted.
• A woman named Kylie Bell claimed that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Broadus and four others. In December 2004, one month before Bell filed her suit against him, Snoop sued her, accusing her of extortion. Bell eventually dropped her lawsuit, and Snoop dropped his US$5 million countersuit against her. Snoop's publicist said "absolutely no money" was paid by the rapper in reaching a settlement.
• On April 26, 2006, Snoop Dogg and members of his entourage were arrested being turned away from British Airways' first class lounge at Heathrow Airport. Snoop and his party were not allowed to enter the lounge because some of the entourage were flying first class, other members of the party were flying economy class. After the group was escorted outside, they vandalized a duty-free shop by throwing whiskey bottles. Seven police officers were injured in the midst of the disturbance. After a night in prison, Snoop Dogg and the other men were released on bail on April 27, but he was unable to perform at the Premier Foods People's Concert in Johannesburg on the same day. As part of his bail conditions, he had to return to the police station in May. The group has been banned by British Airways for "the foreseeable future."
• On May 11, when Snoop Dogg appeared at a London police station, he was cautioned for affray under Section 4 of the Public Order Act for use of threatening words or behavior. On May 15, the Home Office decided that Snoop Dogg should be denied entry to the UK for the foreseeable future due to the incident at Heathrow as well as his previous convictions in the United States for drugs and firearms offenses.
• Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, and The Game have been sued for assaulting a fan on stage at a May 2005 Auburn concert at the White River Amphitheatre. The accuser claims he was beaten by the artists' entourage while he was running up to touch Snoop. He alleges that he reacted to an "open invite" to come on stage. Before he could, Snoop’s bodyguards grabbed him and he was beaten unconscious by crew people, including the rapper and producer Soopafly. Snoop and The Game were included in the suit for not intervening to hold the fight. The lawsuit focuses on a pecuniary claim of $22 million in punitive and compensatory damages, battery, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
• On September 27, 2006, Snoop Dogg was detained at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California by airport security, after airport screeners found a collapsible police baton in Snoop's carry-on bag. The baton was confiscated but Snoop was allowed to board the flight. He has been charged with various weapons violations stemming from this incident. When arrested, he told deputies the baton was a prop for a movie. Bail was set at $150,000, which Snoop has paid.
• Snoop Dogg was arrested again on October 26, 2006 at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California while parked in a passenger loading zone. Approached by airport security for a traffic infraction, he was found in possession of marijuana and a firearm, according to a police statement. He was transported to Burbank Police Department Jail, booked, and released on $35,000 bond. He faced firearm and drug possession charges on 12 December at Burbank Superior Court.
• He was again arrested on November 29, 2006, after performing on The Tonight Show, for possession of marijuana and a firearm.
• Snoop Dogg was arrested again on March 12, 2007 at 1:25 a.m CET after performing in a concert with P.Diddy in Stockholm's Globe Arena, Sweden. Snoop Dogg was arrested along with a woman after the pair reportedly "reeked" of marijuana. They were arrested and released 4 hours later after providing a urine sample. Pending results on urine will determine whether charges will be pressed. However the rapper denied all charges.
• Snoop Dogg's visa request to enter the United Kingdom was rejected by local authorities because of the Heathrow incident on March 24, 2007. A concert at London's Wembley Arena on March 27 went ahead with Diddy (with whom he toured Europe) and the rest of the show. However the decision affected four more British performances in Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham and Glasgow and Budapest (due to rescheduling)
• On April 12, 2007, Snoop Dogg was sentenced to five years of probation for gun and drug charges. He is expected to continue touring.
• On April 26, 2007, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship banned him from entering the country on character grounds, citing his prior criminal convictions. He had been scheduled to appear at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards on April 29, 2007. The ban was not lifted and Snoop Dogg was not able to attend. MTV Australia currently has a petition going to get him Australian citizenship.
• Snoop Dogg's many legal issues forced San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to withdraw his plan to issue a proclamation to the rapper.

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House Of Pain History

House of Pain
House of Pain was an Irish-styled American hip-hop group who released three albums in the early to mid 1990s before lead rapper Everlast decided to pursue his solo career again. The group is best known for its 1992 hit single "Jump Around", which reached #3 in the United States and (on re-release in 1993) #8 in the United Kingdom.
Rise to fame
After a brief unsuccessful solo career, Everlast teamed up with DJ Lethal and high school friend Danny Boy to form House of Pain. The group was signed to Tommy Boy Records, and their eponymous debut album (1992) went multi-platinum, spawning the successful DJ Muggs produced single "Jump Around". This song was also remixed twice by Pete Rock, one version featuring a verse from him and one without. "Jump Around" also influenced the soul singer Amy Winehouse, who sampled the bass line on her song "You Know I'm No Good." The album also featured Cypress Hill member, B-Real, on the song "Put Your Head Out".
Fashioning themselves as rowdy Irish-American hooligans (Lethal is actually of Latvian heritage), they toured with various rap and alternative-rock bands after their breakthrough. They participated together with Helmet, along with several other rap acts, on the influential 1993 rock-rap collaborative Judgment Night movie soundtrack.

Second album and decline in popularity
Their follow-up album, 1994's Same As It Ever Was, went gold despite minimal airplay and no major hits. The first single, "On Point," is noted for taking a swipe at another American rapper with a strong Irish heritage, "Marky Mark" (Mark Wahlberg) ("Calvin Klein's no friend of mine/So I don't like Marky"). Like Cypress Hill, who, with House of Pain, were a part of the loosely-affiliated Soul Assassins posse, they found urban radio airplay an increasingly closed path, which affected album sales.
Third album
House of Pain abruptly broke up in 1996 after the release of their third album, Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again, which featured guest appearances by rappers Sadat X of Brand Nubian, Guru of Gang Starr, producer/rapper Divine Styler and reggae singjay Cockni O'Dire (credited as the Scheme Team). On the release date of the album, Everlast announced his departure from the group.
Split, solo and current affairs
From this point on, the status of the group would seem to be in the past tense, though the members would continue their careers separately. Danny Boy would found an art company. DJ Lethal became a member of nu metal band Limp Bizkit, who would cover the famous "Jump Around" at live concerts, particularly in Limp Bizkit's early years during the Family Values Tour 1998. Everlast would finally get multi-platinum solo fame in 1998 with his acoustic rock/blues-inflected album Whitey Ford Sings the Blues The first single from that album was "What It's Like". In 2000, a feud between Everlast and rapper Eminem coincided with the gold-selling Eat at Whitey's, which included minor hits "Black Jesus" and "Black Coffee", and featured a collaboration with Carlos Santana. After the sale of the Tommy Boy Records' master tapes to Warner Bros. Music, Everlast signed with Island/Def Jam, and released the solo LP White Trash Beautiful in 2004.
Later the same year Rhino Records, a subdivision of Warner Music, released a hit collection, Shamrocks & Shenanigans, with singles from Everlast's early solo days, the House of Pain and his post-group solo efforts. Before the release, Everlast announced on his official message board that he was not endorsing the compilation album.
Founded by Danny Boy in early 2006, La Coka Nostra is a new project that has reunited him, Everlast and DJ Lethal for the first time since House of Pain's split. Other group members include Ill Bill of Non Phixion, and newcomers Slaine and Big Left.

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Cypress Hill History

About Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill is a prominent rap music group formed in 1988, which has sold 15 million records around the world. It is composed of members B Real (Louis Freese or Freeze, Mexican/Cuban), Sen Dog (Senén Reyes, Cuban), DJ Muggs (Lawrence Muggerud, Italian-American) and, since 1994, percussionist Eric Bobo. Muggs, when asked about the new member, said: "As Latinos we thought it would be a good idea to build in some of this Latin Jazz Flavor."

Cypress Hill - Early Careers
Cypress Hill hail from South Gate, California. The three original members formed a group called DVX in 1986 with Sen Dog's brother Mellow Man Ace (Ulpiano Sergio Reyes). When Mellow Man Ace left in 1988, they decided to rename themselves Cypress Hill after a street running through their neighbourhood.

Cypress Hill played mainly to Latino audiences in Los Angeles and recorded early versions of songs such as the "Phuncky Feel One" and "Trigga Happy Nigga." In 1991, Cypress Hill signed to Philadelphia Ruffhouse label with distribution by Columbia Records.

Cypress Hill's first self-titled album was released in November 1991. Cypress Hills first single was "Phuncky Feel One" but it was the B-side "How I Could Just Kill a Man" (formerly Trigga Happy Nigga) attracted more airplay on urban radio and college radio Based on the success of the single and other tracks such as "I Wanna Get High", bilingual track "Latin Lingo" and X-rated Spanish track "Tres Equis", the album sold two million copies. DJ Muggs then produced the first album by the House of Pain then working with the Beastie Boys and Funkdoobiest

Cypress Hill made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.
Black Sunday Cypress Hill's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went double platinum in the US and sold 3.25 million albums

Cypress Hill were the first rappers fighting for the legalization of marijuana and the band was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs lit up a joint and the band trashed their instruments while playing second single "Ain't Going Out".

Cypress Hill headlined the "Soul Assassins" tour with the House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch.

In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgement Night soundtrack teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth
Cypress Hill played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival introducing their new member Eric Bobo who was formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys.

Bobo is the son of famous salsa musician Willie Bobo. Rolling Stone Magazine named the band as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years topping the bill in 1995.

Cypress Hill appeared on an episode of the Simpsons where Homer Simpson became a performer at a freakshow appearing on a similar tour to Lollapalooza.

Cypress Hill's third album III (Temples of Boom) was released in 1995 selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 despite not having a hit single. Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.

They were the first rappers fighting for the legalization of marijuana and the band was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs lit up a joint and the band trashed their instruments while playing second single "Ain't Going Out".

The band headlined the "Soul Assassins" tour with the House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgement Night soundtrack teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth
The band played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival introducing their new member Eric Bobo who was formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys.

Bobo is the son of famous salsa musician Willie Bobo. Rolling Stone Magazine named the band as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years topping the bill in 1995.

They appeared on an episode of the Simpsons where Homer Simpson became a performer at a freakshow appearing on a similar tour to Lollapalooza.

Their third album III (Temples of Boom) was released in 1995 selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 despite not having a hit single. Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML

Til Death Us Do Part - continued career
Sen took a break from the band to form punk-rap band SX-10. Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first Smokin' Grooves featuring Ziggy Marley the Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest.

The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes.
In 1997, band members focussed on their solo careers.

Muggs released Muggs Presents ... the Soul Assassins featuring contributions from Wu-Tang Clan members, Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with Dr. Dre, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" on Dr. Dre's Aftermath album. B-Real also released a solo album The Pyscho Realm with Latino rappers Duke (rapper) and Jacken. However, the band played on the Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.

Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the US on the backs of hit single "Tequila Sunrise" and another tribute to smoking marijuana "Dr Greenthumb". Sen Dog also released the Get Wood Sampler as part of SX-10 on Jordan Schur's Flip Label.
In 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish Los Grandes Exitos en Espanol.

Cypress Hill released Skull & Bones in 2000 with Skull being rap tracks and Bones being rock tracks. The album reached top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio.

The band also released a Live at the Fillmore in 2000 recorded at a show at the Fillmore.
Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on The Stoned Raiders album on 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment not even reaching the top 50 of the US album charts.

The band released Til Death Us Do Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on bass and Rob Ashton of The Transplants on backup vocals and is based on the classic song "Guns of Brixton" by The Clash from the London Calling album and has proved to be a success on the modern rock charts. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy and Twin of Mobb Deep and producer the Alchemist.

Members
As of 2004, the members of Cypress Hill are Muggs, Sen Dog, B Real and Eric Bobo.

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Eminem History

Eminem Biography
Rapper, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, on October 17, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri. Eminem spent a good deal of his childhood moving back and forth between Kansas City and Detroit, Michigan; when he was 12, he and his mother moved permanently to Detroit. A fan of rap music from a young age, Eminem began performing at age 14. Although he dropped out of high school and worked at odd jobs for a number of years, his focus remained on his music.
Eminem first recorded as half of the Detroit rap duo Soul Intent, and made his solo debut in 1996 with the independent release Infinite. The album was soon followed by The Slim Shady EP—both releases made quite a splash in the hip-hop underground, and soon Eminem was being praised both for his exaggerated, nasal-voiced rapping style and the bluntly controversial nature of his lyrics. Not in the least, he gained notice because of his skin color, and was soon hailed as rap music’s next “great white hope.”

After performing in a freestyle rap competition on a Los Angeles radio station, Eminem came to the attention of Dr. Dre, a powerful player on the rap music scene. Dr. Dre signed Eminem to his Aftermath label and began working with the young rapper on a full-length CD that would include many of the tracks from the previously released Slim Shady EP. Eminem’s debut with Aftermath, The Slim Shady LP, was released on February 23, 1999. Driven by the success of the hit single “My Name Is,” the album shot to No. 2 on the Billboard chart within a few weeks. It eventually went triple platinum, and earned Eminem two Grammy Awards, for Best Best Rap Solo Performance ("My Name Is") and Best Rap Album.

Eminem had similar critical and commercial success with his second major release, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), which sold close to two million copies in its first week of release and became the fastest-selling rap album of all time. Critics almost universally praised the album as smart, ironic, and edgy, but as an inevitable result of such wide exposure (especially among young rap fans), the album generated a good deal of controversy for its content, which included graphic violence, explicit sexual references, and antihomosexual slurs. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) organized a protest of the Music Television (MTV) network’s support of Eminem during the MTV Video Music Awards, held in September 2000. Eminem, performing at the head of a swarm of bleached-blonde, look-alike Slim Shadies, took home MTV awards for both Video Of The Year and Best Male Video categories for his smash hit single, "The Real Slim Shady". The top-selling solo artist of that year, Eminem won Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance ("The Real Slim Shady").

The controversial rapper’s tumultuous personal life and legal struggles made headlines beginning in June 1999, less than a week after the platinum debut of The Marshall Mathers LP, when he was arrested after a brawl outside a Detroit nightclub. In a preliminary hearing in late August 2000, a judge ordered Eminem to stand trial on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a concealed weapon. On February 14, 2001, Eminem pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon after prosecutors agreed to drop the felony assault charge. A Michigan judge sentenced the rapper to two year's probation and ordered him to undergo counseling and drug testing.

In September 1999, Eminem's mother, Debbie Mathers-Briggs, filed a $10 million lawsuit against her son. Mathers-Briggs alleged that Eminem had slandered her on The Slim Shady LP, implying she was an unstable drug user. Though she offered to settle for $2 million, Eminem rejected the settlement and the case will go to trial.

Eminem’s tempestuous relationship with his wife, Kim, whom he married in 1999 but had lived with for years before that, served as the subject of several of his songs, including “Kim,” which portrayed a violent argument between the couple. In July 2000, Kim Mathers was hospitalized after attempting suicide. A month later, Eminem filed for divorce; Kim Mathers sought $10 million and full custody of their daughter, Hailie Jade Scott, born in 1995. In a settlement, Eminem agreed not to seek custody of the young girl and Kim Mathers dropped her lawsuit. Though the couple reconciled in December of that year, their truce was shortlived, as Kim Mathers filed for divorce in early March 2001.

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Psycho Realm History

Psycho Realm

Origin Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genre(s) Hip hop
Years active 1989 - present

Members:
Jacken
Duke
B-Real


History of Psycho Realm

Psycho Realm is a Chicano hip hop group started in 1989 by brothers Jacken (Joaquin Gonzalez) and Big Duke (Gustavo Gonzalez) from the Downtown, Pico-Union area of Los Angeles. The first recorded Psycho Realm song, "Scandalous", was released on the soundtrack of the film Mi Vida Loca in 1993. That same year B-Real of the rap group Cypress Hill saw Psycho Realm performing at Olvera Street for an End Barrio Warfare concert. Their performance inspired B-Real to the point that he wanted to join the group. With this time period being the height of Cypress Hill’s career anything Cypress Hill related would get major publicity. In 1997 Sony released the first Psycho Realm album, labeled as an addition to the Cypress Hill Family by the sticker placed on the CD case. Due to conflicts with the record label the Gonzalez brothers left Sony as Jacken explains, "the machine was just trying to censor me / Didn't do it for Sony so they ended up releasing me / Independent, no longer locked down for an infinity / So my vicinity stays true to my identity." The brothers then went on to form Sick Symphonies, their own record label, which lacked the big budget for promotion and distribution in chain stores along with group member B-Real, who was stuck on his contract with Sony for Cypress Hill.

Tragedy of Psycho Realm

On January 29, 1999 at 12:05 a.m. one month before the expected release of the second Psycho Realm album. Duke was shot in a confrontation while trying to split up a fight at Tommy's Burger Stand at Beverly and Rampart Boulevard in Los Angeles which left him paralyzed from the neck down for life. The shooter, a 24 year old named Robert Gorcsi, who was on parole at the time of the shooting, was given a bond set at 1.6 million dollars, he was eventually jailed for attempted murder. Jacken later that same year released A War Story: Book I with B-Real only appearing on one song. In 2001 the Sick Symphonies label released The Steel Storm the first album of a new group called Street Platoon. Jacken with the help of Street Platoon finished A War Story: Book II which came out at the end of 2003, which was already halfway done before the shooting of Duke.

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