Snoop Dogg is the American Dream

In 1996, Calvin Broadus, Jr. was acquitted of first-degree murder in the killing a gang member in Los Angeles. It was a life-changing moment for a young man from the hard streets of Long Beach, California, one that coincided with his meteoric rise in the music world with the impact of his debut hip-hop album Doggystyle in 1993. The trial was a touchpoint in the mid-90s for the complicated world of hip-hop's gansta rap genre, and it was a moment that could have sent Broadus to prison for most of his life.

Fast forward to December 25, 2025.

Snoop Dogg absolutely owns Christmas Day with a stunning and star-studded halftime show of the NFL's Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings game in Netflix's first-ever Christmas Day football broadcast. The Snoop-football-Christmas event was a wonderfully entertaining bit of television that no one saw coming, and it capped several years of Snoop's mass media resurgence that has seen him as a sports commentator at the Olympics and in a surprisingly endearing collaboration with Martha Stewart. 

The incredible turnaround in lifestyle and incredible thirty-plus year run as a pop culture icon is nothing short of inspiring, and it represents the absolute best possible outcome of an idea -- jaded as it has become -- known as the American Dream. It's not an overstatement to suggest there is something Dickensian in the story of a young man who rises from a life of poverty and crime and dangerous situations to a sphere of influence, comfort, and success rooted in his genuine good will, incredible work ethic, and charming ability to bridge countless cultural divides.