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Murder was the case - TIMH

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February 20, 2017 at 6:11am
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Calvin Broadus, Jr., known at the time as Snoop Doggy Dogg, was acquitted of first and second degree murder and conspiracy to commit assault charges today in 1996. The trial stemmed from an incident on August 25, 1993 in which Snoop and his bodyguard, McKinley Lee, were involved with the shooting death of Philip Woldemariam. The trial was highly publicized in traditional media and MTV and it came at a time in which Los Angeles and the nation were knee deep in violence.

By the time of the incident Snoop was already a well-known music star through his work with Dr. Dre on the soundtrack to the film "Deep Cover" as well as Dre's landmark album "The Chronic". This new fame caused Snoop to hire a bodyguard and move to a new neighborhood. Snoop, Lee and some friends were hanging out in front of his apartment building in Los Angeles when Woldemariam, a gang member in whose turf Snoop now resided, and his friends drove by. Words were exchanged and Woldemariam drove off.

Snoop and his pals got into his vehicle and gave chase. They broke off the chase and Woldemariam and his friends picked up some food and headed to nearby Woodbine Park to eat. Snoop and his friends located Woldemariam at the park and confronted him. At some point Woldemariam reached for a gun and was shot by Lee. After the shooting Woldemariam's friend took his gun to make it seem as if Lee had executed an unarmed man.

To provide some context for those that are too young to remember, consider a few things. This incident played out like a scene from the movie "Boyz N The Hood", which was released in 1991. The Rodney King beating also happened in 1991 and the subsequent L.A. riots happened in 1992. The Snoop shooting was in 1993, Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered in 1994, O.J. Simpson was acquitted in 1995, and Snoop was acquitted in 1996.

Snoop was recording his debut album, "Doggystyle", when the shooting occurred and he was freed on a $1 million bond (Death Row was the label that paaaaaid it) and he was able to complete the album. "Doggystyle" sold over 800,000 copies in its first week alone and over 7 million total. In a strange example of an art-imitates-life-which-imitates-art twist, the album contains the song "Murder Was the Case", which is a fictional (obviously) account of Snoop's own death due to gun violence. (Look for Charlie Murphy in the video):

More details here: http://articles.latimes.com/1996-02-21/news/mn-38322_1_rapper-snoop-dogg...

Kurt Cobain, Walter Becker and J. Geils' birthdays here: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/anything-else/2016/02/68037/three-bi...

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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