What's The Real Meaning Of Drop It Like It's Hot By Snoop Dogg? Here's What We Think
As the highly anticipated Super Bowl LVI halftime show draws closer, fans cannot help but wonder which of Snoop Dogg's hits will make the setlist. The options are plentiful, as Snoop's discography is full of iconic tracks that still sound as fresh as the day they were released. It's no secret that the California rapper has reinvented the wheel as a hip-hop artist, branching out in music and in business to become a fixture in the entertainment industry. The swagger that makes him Snoop Dogg comes naturally, according to the Doggfather himself. "The easiest thing you can do is just do you," Snoop told The New York Times in 2019. "I felt like doing me would be the easiest path to me remaining relevant in the industry. It's originality and uniqueness. I just try to do me."
For Snoop to write one of his hit hip-hop tracks, the vibe has to be just right in the studio. "I gotta smoke a lot of weed, I gotta have some old school music playing ... something that's inspiring to me, then I gotta have a couple of females around to give me some inspiration because I like looking at them while I'm writing my [music]," Snoop described in an The Art of Rap interview, adding, "I just like the whole mood to just be natural." But no other Snoop Dogg hit sounds as natural to the rapper as his No. 1 song, "Drop It Like It's Hot."
What's the meaning behind his chart-topping hit?
Snoop Dogg's got a way with words
Snoop Dogg brings his unique way of speaking to his 2004 smash hit "Drop It Like It's Hot." He raps the chorus over The Neptunes' synth-inspired beat, "When the pimp's in the crib, ma / Drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot." This Snoopism refers to ones' ability to shake their tail feather, with "twerking" or "getting low" serving as other variations of the phrase, according to Genius. The outlet reports that rapper Lil Wayne is likely the first artist to use this phrase in the hip-hop lexicon on Juvenile's "Back That Azz Up." Snoop makes the phrase his own on his track, flipping the meaning to suit all aspects of his gangster persona, rapping about his disdain for the police, "When the pigs try to get at you / Park it like it's hot, park it like it's hot, park it like it's hot."
Additionally, Snoop flexes his Snoopanese on "Drop It Like It's Hot" by adding his signature "izzle" as a suffix to regular words. Snoop hails himself as the creator of the izzle phenomenon ,according to The New York Times Magazine, which reports that MTV once called Snoop the "slanguistic sensei" of the hip-hop generation. Snoop makes a case for these titles on his song, rapping on the third verse, "​​So don't change the dizzle, turn it up a little / I got a livin' room full of fine dime brizzles."
Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams made a hit
Snoop Dogg credits "Drop It Like It's Hot" producer and collaborator Pharrell Williams for the smash success of the track. "I wanted to work with somebody that was different, that was dynamic, and that could handle me," Snoop said in a 2013 BMI interview. "Pharrell was poppin'. When me and him hooked up, it's like it was a brotherhood."
In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, Snoop explained Pharrell pushed him to go harder with his lyrics. "... When I did my second verse, he was like: 'That ain't dope enough — you need to go back in,'" Snoop recalled. "And I came back with another verse that helped it become one of my biggest records, you know what I'm saying?" Sure enough, Snoop brings his A-game to the verse Pharrell made him rewrite, rapping, "I'm a bad boy, with a lot of hoes / Drive my own cars, and wear my own clothes / I hang out tough, I'm a real boss / Big Snoop Dogg, yeah he's so sharp."
In his conversation with The Guardian, Snoop admitted he was "on some gangsta s***" when he created "Drop It Like It's Hot." On the overall energy that Snoop and Pharrell created on the No. 1 song, Snoop said, "I brought the fun-lovin' party spirit."