Snoop Dogg to play Leeds Direct Arena as part of new tour

His has been a career that has seen the Doggfather cement his undisputed influence on music with chart-topping, multi-platinum records, while also solidifying his importance to wider culture as an actor, businessman and more across the board.

The tour sees Snoop Dogg enlist a selection of his key collaborators from the breadth of his iconic music career including further West Coast hip hop royalty; Warren G, Tha Dogg Pound, Obie Trice and D12. They will also be joined by the multi-million streamed Irish rap duo Versatile.

Snoop Dogg collaborator and platinum-selling rapper Xzibit will join the tour for the date at Leeds First Direct Arena on Monday March 27.

West Coast rap legend Snoop Dogg has come a long way since being discovered by Dr. Dre in the early 1990. As impressive as he was when guesting on Dre’s The Chronic in 1992, few could have guessed he’d go on to global fame, tens of millions of record sales, and a career in movies and TV. And that’s only part of the story, from battles with the law to reinvention as a reggae artist.He was born Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr in Long Beach, California, on October 20, 1971. His "Snoop Dogg" nickname came from his mother because she thought he looked like Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon.

He played piano and sang at his local Baptist church, before starting rap in sixth grade. After graduating high school, Snoop was arrested several times for drug possession and spent time in prison.

He was also associated with the Rollin’ 20 Crips Gang. He started making music as a way out of his troubles and recorded early demos with his cousin Nate Dogg and friend Warren G as 213.

A track on one of these came to the attention of Dr Dre who invited Snoop — then rapping under the name Snoop Doggy Dogg — to audition. From there they collaborated on a song called "Deep Cover" for the soundtrack of the film for the same name; and Snoop became the key rapper on Dre’s hugely successful first solo album, The Chronic, in 1992.Snoop's first album, the Dre-produced Doggystyle (1993), climbed its way to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's hip-hop and Top 200 charts, based in part on the success of the singles "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" and "Gin and Juice."

Next came a short film called Murder Was the Case, the soundtrack of which went double platinum. Snoop's next album, Tha Doggfather (1996), also reached the top of the charts, despite the absence of Dre, who had left Death Row over a contract dispute.

Snoop then left Death Row himself, falling out with label mogul Suge Knight and moving to Master P’s No Limit Records.

He scored the top slot on the hip-hop charts with his next two albums: Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told (1998) and No Limit Top Dogg (1999).

His last album for No Limit, The Last Meal, came in 2000 and sold over 2 million copies

By now his sound has become less gangsta rap and smoother.