Rapper and father Snoop Dogg got very candid about a Black man’s experience when encountering police during a recent discussion about the importance of criminal justice reform with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Snoop Dogg and Xzibit were just some of many familiar faces that participated in the community conference with local sheriffs deputies. The event was captured by the media publication Hip Hop Crown Nation.
In the clip published to the outlet’s YouTube page on Saturday, May 22, the conversation got personal after one of the officers involved shared a shocking FBI statistic. “Typically, when a police officer gets shot or killed, it’s typically in the first 60 seconds to two minutes,” the sheriff’s official said. He added, “It’s an FBI statistic.”
The “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper, visibly affected by what he heard, fired back, saying, “We can get killed off of that one-minute conversation that you having with us based off of that FBI stack that’s f-cking bullsh-t because every n-gga is not going to allow you two minutes to even entertain that.” Tapping his chest with his right hand repeatedly, Snoop continued, “Our first two minutes, our heart beating fast… let me let you know, our first two minutes is like this. When y’all walk up to the car, it’s even faster, and it’s like g- -damn, get out the car.”
Other concerns were addressed in the discussion, including one made by an unidentified participant who noted the lack of representation in that law enforcement staff, highlighting that none of the officials who came to the event were Black. “When we look around everybody Alex [the sheriff], and we see who came with you, I don’t see nobody that looked like me,” the young man expressed.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva responded to the group, stating that he would like to hire people from the community, that know the area also to serve it. “That is my goal,” he said. “I want kids who grew up in Compton, [California] to be the deputy. When we start hiring again, I need to hire a bunch of y’all.” The room burst out in laughter before someone jokingly said, “let us pick them for you.”
Other celebrities in attendance included musical artist Ty Dolla $ign, recording executive Vincent Herbert, rapper Casey Veggies and more. Check out a snippet from the meeting down below.
