How Pharrell Helped Snoop Dogg Rap About Women with ‘Respect’ Not ‘Derogatory Words’ (Exclusive)

It is important to take good advice.

It’s a lesson Snoop Dogg says he’s learned over the years that has been the key to his longevity in the music industry.

“I just want to get better and better and be around people who want to see me do better,” the hit rapper and beloved Olympics commentator, 52, told PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “Even if it means I’m not the smartest person in the room, I don’t mind because it means more learning instead of teaching.”

Snoop Dogg on his surprising journey from rap rebel to ‘the most adorable person in America’ and Voice New coach (exclusive)

One person he learned something valuable from was friend and hit producer Pharrell Williams. As he assessed his career in the late ’90s, Snoop realized, “I was stuck in a box keeping it gangster and trying to calm down the hood,” he says. “I had one target I was aiming for, but I didn’t really have room to grow.”

Snoop Dogg. Steve Fenton/REX/Shutterstock

Ready for a new energy and sound, he struck out on his own, launching Doggystyle Records in 1999. When he linked up with Williams for his 2002 album titled I paid to be boss, he was also open to the new perspective of women. His 2003 hit “Beautiful” was Williams’ brainchild.

“He made me do that song. I never would have done a song like that in the ’90s, but he pushed me in a direction that I really never paid attention to. He said, ‘You rapped about women and called them and h–s they love you,’ Snoop says of his past misogynistic lyrics. Williams continued, “‘When are you going to take the time to show them that you love them and appreciate them?’

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That’s the question that resonated. “I had to think,” says Snoop. “I said, ‘Damn. I’m kind of hard on them. Let me hear you out. What should I do?'”

Pharrell Williams and Snoop Dogg.

SnoopDoggTV/Youtube

In the studio, Williams “started naming all the women in my family. I said, ‘I get it…give me a beat.’ Since then I have more respect for my queen than using derogatory words to explain my feelings towards women.”

These days, Snoop Dogg takes his voice very seriously. “I take care of my voice,” he says about frequent tea drinking. “I’m not trying to be like anybody else. I’m just doing me and I think it’s comforting for your ears to know that it’s stayed the same for so many years and it’s always been casual and silky, in the pocket and refreshing for Even if it was over some hardcore music, it was always the right instrument.

Snoop Dogg, Reba McEntire, Gwen Stefani, Michael Buble.

Trae Patton/NBC

Now, as a coach at Votehe passes on all his wisdom to a new generation of artists.

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“I think I’m going to be a coach with care and concern, with honesty and truth,” he says, “and more or less taking some of my personal experiences and using that to kind of guide the way I coach.”

For more on Snoop Dogg, pick up this week’s issue, available now.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education