The Snoop Dogg biopic has cast its Death Row, and Aaron Paul is the man who took it mainstream

For a film about one rapper, Snoop now has the population of a small label.

Over the past week Universal Pictures has filled out the cast of its Snoop Dogg biopic, and the list reads like a roll call of 1990s rap. Jonathan Daviss, known for Outer Banks, plays Snoop. Camron Jones plays Tupac Shakur. Myles Bullock plays Dr. Dre. Algee Smith is Warren G, Tre Hale is Death Row co-founder Suge Knight, and Corey Champagne is Nate Dogg.

The latest additions are the most telling. Aaron Paul, Jesse Pinkman of Breaking Bad, will play Jimmy Iovine, whose Interscope Records distribution deal with Death Row carried Snoop’s early records into the mainstream. Giovanni Ribisi plays David Kenner, the attorney who represented Death Row in the 1990s.

Who plays the family?

Lauren London plays Snoop’s mother, Beverly Tate, and Laya DeLeon Hayes plays his wife, Shante. Cynthia Erivo, the Oscar-nominated star of Wicked, plays Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother, a role with real weight in any telling of the decade.

Is there anyone with a personal connection?

Two of the most striking casting choices are family stories in themselves. SwayvoTwain, the son of D’Angelo and the late Angie Stone, plays The Notorious B.I.G. Hercy Miller makes his feature debut playing his own father, Master P, the No Limit founder who signed Snoop after Death Row. Zachariah Rogers, from P-Valley, plays The D.O.C., and TyQuan Givens plays an original character. Kurupt and The Lady of Rage also appear.

Who is making it?

Craig Brewer, who directed Hustle & Flow, Dolemite Is My Name and Coming 2 America, rewrote an original script by Joe Robert Cole, co-writer of Black Panther. Snoop Dogg produces with Brian Grazer and Allan Mandelbaum of Imagine Entertainment and Sara Ramaker, president of Death Row Pictures. It is the first film under Death Row Pictures’ deal with NBCUniversal, and Snoop’s own music will drive it.

That ownership matters. Snoop bought the Death Row brand in 2022, so this is a story about the label told by the man who now owns its name. Fans should expect the music to be front and centre; whether the film is as candid about Death Row’s violence and legal battles as it is about the hits is the question the Iovine and Kenner casting raises.

Why are music biopics everywhere?

Because they sell. Bohemian Rhapsody and Elvis, the latter shot on the Gold Coast by Australian director Baz Luhrmann, each took hundreds of millions of US dollars worldwide, and studios have since lined up films on Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. Hip-hop’s own record is shorter but strong: Straight Outta Compton, the 2015 NWA story in which Snoop and Dr. Dre were characters, was a global hit. Snoop picks up the same era from the next chair along.

When can Australians see it?

Universal has set 6 August 2027 for US cinemas. An Australian release date has not been announced.