Today in Hip Hop: Snoop Dogg Acquitted of Murder Charges [2/20/96]

Photo By: Ekaterina Bolovtsova

I can’t believe that I am admitting I’m this old. But I kind of remember the aftermath of this whole event. Although I was alive and growing through these events, I was not as familiar with the trial proceedings because I was not on the West Coast/Side at the time. It was not until the Summer of 96′, I believe, when I moved out West from back home that I started to become familiar with West Coast music, G-Funk, and Snoop. In fact, once I discovered his artistry, he quickly became my favorite artist. I was made fun of at the time because others did not see him as the lyricist I said he was, but I feel time has proven my case since, and his longevity and star appeal has sealed the case for me.

Back to the topic, after I moved here, found a new type of hip hop, favorite artist, and bought one of the two first CD’s after getting a walkman as a present, the intro to Tha Doggfather introduced a lot of truth to me. That is when I learned of, and then became curious about the details of, the murder trial and got a more complete picture of this artist from Long Beach.

Now my goal here is not to tell this story because I cannot, but to show that on this day, major events were taking place in Hip Hop years ago. Not everything in this genre will be as positive as some would like, but you have to look at the effects of the past. I mean, imagine not being able to see a Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart collaboration (nobody could’ve predicted that in 1996).