Tupac Shakur gave Snoop Dogg his first-ever blunt in 1994
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Tupac Shakur gave Snoop Dogg his first-ever blunt in 1994

Hip-hop knows that the legendary Snoop Dogg loves to smoke a bit of weed occasionally. In fact, even those who aren’t huge fans of the genre know the West Coast emcee is synonymous with smoking. However, the rapper wasn’t very keen on the drug during his teens. Still, his attitude toward smoking weed changed when he crossed paths with the late Tupac Shakur.

For rap music enthusiasts, it would be hard to imagine a time when 2pac and Snoop didn’t know each other. In the 1990s, they were joined at the hip and seemed utterly inseparable. However, Snoop once unveiled the exact place and time he first met the ‘Dear Mama’ rapper. In a 2018 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Snoop (real name Calvin Broadus) revealed that he first met Shakur in 1993 at the Poetic Justice wrap party. The legendary movie was one of many films in which 2pac got cast.

Although Broadus wasn’t in the film, as an up-and-coming young star, he received an invitation from the director John Singleton to attend the movie’s celebratory wrap party. At this point, Broadus had already released his debut album, Doggystyle, and was an official part of Death Row. However, he had a vague idea that Dr Dre and Suge Knight were in talks with Shakur. By 1994, before the two MCs knew it, they were side by side as Death Row’s new stars. Snoop Dogg recalled how the pair began “getting cool” with each other but eventually bonded over their love of weed. However, more familiar with joints, Snoop Dogg revealed that it was Shakur who sparked his love of blunts.

Although Snoop Dogg didn’t realise it then, this encounter had ramifications, as later Broadus realised that he could never go back to rolling papers. Shakur showed him a new way to smoke weed, resulting in Broadus developing a new undying love for blunts. Detailing his first experience, the Long Beach musician explained to Stern, “I smoked my first blunt with Tupac. I’d never smoked a blunt before. I was smoking joints… I said, ‘Hmm, this sh*t tastes magical!’ [Smoking weed] is a bridge, Howard… I’ve met so many people and established so many relationships over a joint.” The experience permanently changed how Snoop Dogg would go on to smoke.

Every weed-smoking rapper has their preference. In fact, things got interesting in 2012 when Broadus and Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa made the film Mac And Devin Go To High School. Khalifa is loud and proud about his loyalty to joints and denounces blunts in his music. However, this trivial preference didn’t affect the duo’s collaboration and eventual friendship. You can hear Snoop detail his experience on The Howard Stern Show in the video below.