Notorious BIG in 1995. Larry Busacca/WireImage/Getty Images
The Snoop Dogg biopic has been cast as The Notorious BIG, with the famous son playing Big Poppa.
How Diversity SwayvoTwain, a musician born Michael D’Angelo Archer II to the late legendary artists D’Angelo and Angie Stone, will play Biggie in the film, which is expected to be released in August 2027, SwayvoTwain reports. While Archer has been regularly releasing music under the name SwayvoTwain for the past few years, this will be his first major acting role since he landed a small role in the 2022 direct-to-streaming film. Strictly for streets. 2.
SwayvoTwain celebrated the announcement on Instagram by sharing a montage of recent videos, including a short clip of him hanging out with Snoop. “It’s okay baby BABYYY,” he wrote in the caption, referencing the opening lines of the classic Notorious BIG song “Juicy.”
It’s unclear how big of a role SwywoTwain will play in the Snoop biopic. Biggie and Snoop were friendly but not very close, and geographically they were on opposite ends of the infamous East Coast-West Coast rap feud of the nineties. But their paths crossed a couple of times, and although there was mutual respect and admiration, their relationship was somewhat clouded by the tensions of that day.
In a conversation with Fatman Scoop a few years ago, Snoop talked about the origins of his song with Tha Dogg Pound, “New York, New York,” which was long considered the infamous BIG diss track because it featured a beat that DJ Pooh made for Biggie for a St. Ides. Since BIG wasn’t using the beat for anything other than advertising, Snoop asked Pooh if he could use it because “we fucked with Biggie and we liked Biggie.”
But when Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound flew to New York to film the video, Snoop claimed that Biggie went on the radio and revealed where they were filming; Shortly after, several shots were fired near the set, but no one was injured. Despite this, Snoop did not seem to have anything against Biggie, attributing this to the nature of the feud. He then revealed that the two rappers met shortly after Tupac was killed.
“I can look him in the eye and see how hurt he is,” Snoop said of Biggie’s reaction to Tupac’s death. “He didn’t even have to say it… This is not the man who is happy or praised; this is his friend who is dead. They had a misunderstanding and he could never get justice for his emotions – but he shows me his emotions.” (Snoop added that he and Biggie never discussed the “Brooklyn incident” because “what’s clear doesn’t need to be talked about.”)
A few months later, Biggie invited Snoop to visit him in the studio, where he played an early version of “Somebody’s Gotta Die”, which opens with the lyrics: “I’m sitting in the crib dreaming of planes and Lear coupes/The way Salt flies and how to sell records like Snoop – oops!”
Talking to Rolling Stone in 2021, Snoop said, “It was the greatest honor for me to play that record for me. It was for me to know that he thought that much about me to put that shit on his record… It was growth. He grew to the attitude of, ‘I’m cool.’ I love Snoop. Snoop showed me some love, let me show him some love back. Trying to put an end to this crap.’ He knew it was an olive branch.”
While these encounters may have been brief, both would certainly make good fodder for a biopic. Snoop The film stars Jonathan Daviss, Miles Bullock as Dr. Dre, Camron Jones as Tupac, Tre Hale as Suge Knight, Lauren London as Snoop’s mother Beverly Tate, and Laya DeLeon Hayes as his wife Chante. Craig Brewer, who directed Vanity and flow And Song Song Bluemakes a film.
From Rolling Stone USA.