Snoop Dogg Once Shared That He Needed to Smoke Weed to Write Songs

Rapper Snoop Dogg is widely regarded as one of hip-hop’s most successful and lucrative artists. But at one point, Snoop relied on his well-known habit of smoking weed to create his hits.

Why Snoop Dogg once stopped smoking weed

As much as Snoop has enjoyed smoking weed both in the past and present, the rapper has tried to denounce the habit. One of his first attempts to publicly stop smoking weed go as far back as 2002. That year, the Grammy-nominated artist announced his intention to stay away from pot.

“Drugs cloud your vision,” Snoop once said in an interview with All Hip Hop. “I was having fun when I was getting high. Don’t regret none of the times I was on it. That was me, Snoop Dogg: Stoner of the Year. Don’t give a f***. That’s how I did that.”

The songwriter felt that quitting smoking might have led to a better understanding of himself. But he was also partially motivated by being a better role-model for those who looked up to him.

“I used to do public service announcements and tell the kids, ‘Say no to drugs’ and high as f*** – very hypocritical. That’s one thing my momma always told me, ‘If you gonna do something, baby, mean it. Do not be hypocritical. Do not say, ‘Don’t do this and you turn around and do the same thing.’ I took that to heart,” he said.

Snoop Dogg once shared he needed to smoke weed to write songs

Taking a break from smoking has often yielded a few benefits for Snoop. In an interview he did for Khloe Kardashian’s old program, Kocktails with Khloe (via Complex), Snoop explained how temporarily going sober helped him personally.

“I stopped smoking from that day for 180 days straight. And it made me a better coach, a better person, and I stopped smoking when I was coaching football. So every year when I coach football around the kids, I don’t smoke, so that’s three months out of the year that I do that,” he said.

However, Snoop would eventually go back to smoking weed. But doing so was more than just a recreational habit for the artist. The rapper claimed weed played an instrumental part to his success.

“To write rap I’ve got to smoke a lot of weed,” he once said according to Contact Music.

But it wasn’t just weed that helped fuel Snoop’s creativity.

“I need some music, old music, R ‘n’ B, hip hop, anything that’s 70s, 80s, 60s, something that’s inspiring, then I’ve got to have a couple of females around for inspiration,” he added.

Snoop Dogg once revealed the 1 person who out-smoked him

Snoop credits another famous musician for being the only person to ever out-smoke him. In an interview, Snoop recalled a time when he found himself hanging with Willie Nelson. Snoop soon realized, however, that he’d finally met his match when the two started smoking pot.

“Willie Nelson is the only person who’s ever ou-smoked Snoop Dogg,” Snoop once said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I had to hit the time-out button.”