Snoop Dogg credits East Coast for having a bigger impact on hip-hop

Snoop Dogg is from the West Coast, but he’s not biased when it comes to which coast had a bigger impact on hip-hop. Appearing on First Take, the rapper gave that credit to the East, noting its influence on the genre’s beginnings.

“Definitely East Coast because East Coast started hip-hop,” Snoop said. “It has the biggest impact where it was born, where it was [grown], where it was developed is always gonna be the biggest impact. Because that’s the epicenter, that’s the foundation, that’s where it began. It’s the East Coast.”

He specifically credited New York rappers, noting, “We (the West Coast) learned from them, we got our style from them, we got our swag from them, we got our know-how to get it together from them, our stage presence — everything from Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash, to people who didn’t have no record deals. They set the foundation.”

Snoop also discussed his decision to join businessman Neko Sparks in his bid to buy the Ottawa Senators.

“I’ve been watching hockey for about 25 years now. I’ll watch it more and more when kids that look like me play the game. But I’m not seeing it being offered to the kids over here in America. I know how big it is in Canada,” he said. “This opportunity came for me to be a part of the ownership of the Ottawa Senators, so I jumped on it. The plan that we have is to also go and build a Snoop Youth Hockey League outside of Canada, so kids in urban communities can learn about hockey, can play the sport and find ways to get into this great thing that’s called hockey.”

He says he wants kids to know there’s another option beside basketball, baseball and football.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.