Snoop Doggy Dogg Postpones Tour After Biggie's Death

Original: “Rapper postpones concert tour” · Associated Press, reprinted in the Las Vegas Sun · no byline · March 12, 1997

38 Concerts Halted: Snoop Doesn’t Want to Be Next

Three days after the murder of The Notorious B.I.G., the Associated Press reported from Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Snoop Doggy Dogg is postponing his 38-concert tour. The run was scheduled to begin there on March 21 and in Charlotte on March 22. New start: sometime in April, under the title “The Doggfather East-West Fresh Fest 1997 World Tour.”

The local promoters provided the explanation. Jeff Bowen from the arena in Winston-Salem put it bluntly: “Tupac (Shakur) has been killed, and six months later, another has been killed, and he doesn’t want to be next.” Snoop didn’t want to be next. Security precautions would be significantly tighter.

Promoter J. Howell announced a new tone: Snoop is now “all about love,” would perform with a band and a film tribute to Biggie and Tupac, and wanted to speak about peace and unity. “Snoop is the only one left,” Howell said; he was the only one left. Snoop and Biggie were friends and had been together on the evening of the Soul Train Music Awards, shortly before Biggie was shot.

Caught in the Middle: Tupac’s Colleague, Biggie’s Friend

In 1997, Snoop was caught in the middle. He was Tupac’s labelmate at Death Row, while at the same time being friends with Biggie and situated on the West Coast side of the East-West feud. Two weeks later, he told MTV what he had learned from Tupac: discipline in the studio (see Snoop learns from Tupac’s work ethic). In the summer of 1997, he played on the Lollapalooza tour.

Correction to the archived text: Biggie was not shot “last Saturday,” but in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 9, 1997, around 12:45 a.m.

In 1998, Snoop left Death Row and moved to Master P’s No Limit Records. In 2022, he bought Death Row, the label that had released Tupac’s All Eyez on Me.