Skip to content

From rap royalty to Olympic icon, how Snoop Dogg is making the Paris Games his own

 Snoop generates amusement in his role as a relatable and humorous commentator, serving as a contrast to the usual talking heads, said Murray Forman, a communication studies professor at Northeastern.

headshot of Erin Kayata
by
Snoop Dogg wearing a USA shirt at a women's beach volleyball game with his arms raised in the air.
Snoop Dogg attends a women’s beach volleyball match between The United States and France at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

He’s in the pool with Michael Phelps. He’s in the stands cheering on the U.S. women’s gymnastics team. He’s carrying the Olympic torch.

Yes, it’s Snoop Dogg, and he’s making the Olympics the Snoop-lympics.

The rapper is commentating on the Olympics for NBC and has become a bit of a media darling. He approaches the games with unbridled enthusiasm, whether he’s excitedly describing badminton players as “rocking and rolling” during a match or lifting his sunglasses in astonishment at gymnast Simone Biles’ performance in a meme-worthy reaction.

Whenever he appears (which is often), Snoop generates amusement in his role as a relatable and humorous commentator, serving as a contrast to the usual talking heads, said Murray Forman, hip-hop expert and professor of communication studies at Northeastern University.

“He’s an established, proven concept in terms of marketing,” Forman said. “He’s familiar to a whole generation. He’s probably older than pretty much every athlete in the game. They’ve all grown up with Uncle Snoop. They know what he is, who he represents, nd his laconic cool style. So he becomes this amiable, sauntering, humorous, (presence). 

“He knows sports. He certainly knows celebrities and he’s dealing with celebrity athletes, so I think he’s really well positioned to interact with all of these up and coming individuals. He can get in front of them and say ‘game recognizes game.’”

It’s a far cry from Snoop Dogg’s early days in the public eye. Legally named Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., Snoop Dogg began working with Dr. Dre in the ’90s and making his name as a performer, rapping about gangs and violence, Forman said. His career was nearly derailed when he went on trial for (and was acquitted of) first-degree murder, a charge that followed previous arrests and jail time for drug and gun possession.

But he, along with other rappers like Ice-T, have gone mainstream by pursuing other business opportunities like sports commentating.
“These guys have transitioned and diversified in terms of their creative talents,” Forman said. “(Snoop’s) representing the values of someone who’s successful as an entertainer, as a public figure, as a family man. He comes more approachable to a wider range of society that wouldn’t have been familiar and necessarily or wouldn’t have been inclined to maybe tolerate that earlier Snoop. He’s matured.”

In a similar vein, Ice-T, who’s been credited with helping popularize rap, turned a guest appearance into a regular role on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and is now known to many for his portrayal of Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola. Flavor Flav, a founding member of the Grammy-nominated rap group Public Enemy, has followed in Snoop’s footsteps and is a sponsor of the United States Water Polo team. He previously built up his brand by starring in the VH1 reality show “Flavor of Love.”

Snoop was an early adopter of expanding his audience through different ventures, Forman said. Between making hits like “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and popularizing adding “izzle” to the ends of words, Snoop Dogg had his hand in several different business deals and appeared in TV shows and movies, including his own reality show about becoming a parent called “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood.” 

Several of these TV show appearances were on the cooking show of his longtime friend, Martha Stewart. The duo teamed up in 2016 for a VH1 series called “Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party.”

“Snoop began to position himself in relation to different brand opportunities,” Forman added. “Even his font is kind of a logo. … Snoop branded himself and then put himself out there. … And it gives … (him) a new kind of legitimacy in new audiences.”

Snoop Dogg and his peers’ expansion into other ventures has not just impacted their personal brand, but the rap genre as a whole. Forman said appearing in front of new audiences has helped bring rap and hip-hop into the mainstream.

‘Hip-hop has been mainstreamed in all kinds of ways, for better, for worse,” Forman added. “Even if you don’t like rap, you know who Snoop is.”

Not just any celebrity could inspire this much delight in this role. But Snoop’s personality lends to why he’s gone viral. 

“He’s cool,” Forman said. “We all like to hang with people who are cool, and Snoop always exhibited that laid-back feel … in his gait, in his, his performative gestural style, and his voice. At the same time … Snoop has a very, very high relatability rating. So people from across this kind of spectrum sort of feel like this guy is approachable. He’s humorous when it’s called for.

He also seems sincere when he’s talking about the impressive artistry (of the athletes).

“There’s something about his honesty. When he’s in the pool with Michael Phelps and he says ‘(swimming is) damn hard,'” Forman said. “It’s funny and you can see that Phelps is rolling with it. He’s having a blast, it seems, and Snoop is at the same time.”

World News

Recent Stories