Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre Reunite for ‘Missionary’ Short Film

Global cultural icons Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre have released the explosive new “Missionary” short film on the heels of Snoop Dogg’s highly anticipated studio album “Missionary” produced by Dr.Dre via Death Row, Aftermath and Interscope.

The album features “Last Dance With Mary Jane” feat. Tom Petty and Jelly Roll, sampled from the original Petty song. Petty, who was connected to Dre through Interscope founder Jimmy Iovine, seemed to anticipate Dre and Snoop would use it one day.

“I have this video clip with Tom Petty saying ‘If Dre ever samples the song Mary Jane’s Last Dance, he’s going to have an instant hit on his hands,’” Dre told Los Angeles Times. “It comes along with a massive amount of trust. And you know, Snoop’s putting his entire career and his legacy and everything that he’s built in my hands. So I have to really nurture that and make sure it’s presented in the right way.”

“Missionary” notably marks the first collaborative effort from the iconic duo since Snoop’s 1993 classic debut album “Doggystyle.” “Missionary” is more than an album—it’s a moment for the culture that not only further cements the legacy Snoop and Dre have built across rap and pop culture, but also marks a new beginning for one of the most important and influential musical duos in music history.

You only have to get to track four on Snoop Dogg’s latest album to hear a line that doubles as a blueprint for his entire career. “I started out with nothing,” the artist and global cultural icon sings on Missionary track “Hard Knocks,” “and took this gangsta shit worldwide.”

Indeed, Snoop’s outsized contributions to music and culture have been a daily part of the cultural firmament for so long — more than 30 years and counting — and beloved by nearly every strata of society.

In 1993, a 21-year-old Snoop, already heralded for his work on Dr. Dre’s landmark album The Chronic, released what would become one of the most influential and beloved hip-hop albums of all time. Produced by Dr. Dre, Snoop’s Grammy-nominated debut album Doggystyle would become the first debut album to enter the Billboard 200 at Number One, sell more than 11 million copies worldwide, and spawn timeless classics like “Gin and Juice,” “Who Am I?” and “Doggy Dogg World.”

“As humble as I am now, I was even more humble back then,” Snoop said in a recent interview about Dre and his other Doggystyle collaborators. “I’m gonna listen to everything they say, take their direction, ‘cause they know better than me.” Calling Dre the “greatest director I ever been with,” Snoop astutely noted that Doggystyle “is a movie,” as fans would tell Snoop they listened with their eyes closed to imagine the aural paintings and scenes that Dre and Snoop evoked.

While Dre and Snoop have never wavered from their position as musical and cultural bellwethers, Missionary marks their first full collaborative effort since Doggystyle. “We [still] in love with what we do. I’m peaking right now and Dr. Dre see that,” says Snoop. “He brings the best out of me because he’s particular about everything I say, the way I deliver it, the fuckin’ music and the concept of the songs.”

One listen to Missionary and it’s easy to hear another Dre/Snoop instant classic. The punishing martial drums of “Hard Knocks” and smooth verbal dexterity of “Shangri-La” meld effortlessly with the twinkling pianos and R&B hooks of “Now or Never” and “Gorgeous” (the latter featuring a stunning appearance by Jhene Aiko). “Outta Da Blue,” which blends the drums of Schoolly D’s classic “Saturday Night” with an interpolation of MIA’s “Paper Planes” and sees Dre and Snoop trading verses, is the exuberant yin to the menacing yang of the duo’s first released song, 1992’s “Deep Cover.” On the Sly and the Family Stone-interpolating “Thank You,” Snoop reimagines one of Dre’s most famous lines – “Things just ain’t the same for gangstas” from 2001’s “The Watcher” – into a propulsive, charging new classic.

Sting appears on the “Message in a Bottle”-sampling “Another Part of Me” showcasing both Snoop’s rugged flow and mellifluous singing voice, while “Last Dance With Mary Jane” features the voice and harmonica of the late Tom Petty in Snoop’s heartfelt ode to weed with Jelly Roll. (For the latter, Dre revealed on Drink Champs that Petty once said, “The day that Dr. Dre does a version of ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance,’ it’s gonna be an instant hit” before praising Petty’s family for supplying files of the rocker’s vocals and harmonica parts.)

While the album is packed with special guests, including Eminem, 50 Cent, Method Man, BJ the Chicago Kid, Alus, K.A.A.N., Smitty and Cocoa Sarai, the interplay between Dre and Snoop hasn’t missed a beat. “This is some of the best music that I’ve ever recorded,” Dre said in a recent interview. “We’re better together … It’s a love and respect. We can get in there and just have fun being creative and just experiment.”

“It’s like me being a student again,” Snoop added to the Associated Press. “I get a chance to go back to school … and let him take me on a journey and find places for me to go that I never been.”

The organic nature of the project is evident. For two decades-long friends, there were no mandated delivery dates. No record label bosses yelling for a single. No algorithms dictating the sound. The pair just went in the studio and, as Dre puts it, “started playing around and it started getting better and better.” (Even if they did slightly blow past Snoop’s original projection he noted on Drink Champs that “we could get this done in two weeks.”) “I was trying to lock you into getting this shit to come out,” Snoop tells Dre, laughing. “Then he said, ‘Just give me two more days.’ It’s been ‘Two more days’ since we started.”

For Snoop, the album incredibly marks the 20th of his career (seven of which have gone platinum). A musical chameleon, Snoop is the rare artist who follows his instincts over trends, releasing reggae (2013’s Reincarnated) and gospel (2018’s Bible of Love) albums alongside a vast hip-hop catalog. He’s sold more than 23 million albums in the U.S. alone and around 37 million worldwide, notching three Number One albums on the Billboard 200.

The rare artist who’s transcended the label into globally loved icon, his list of accomplishments could span several pages: Actor, director, producer, comedian, entrepreneur, record label owner, sports commentator (“Snoop Dogg’s enthusiasm for the games has injected a new energy into the Olympics,” as the BBC noted), Coachella and Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner (both with Dr. Dre), New York Times bestselling author, coach, philanthropist, and co-owner, with Dr. Dre, of the premium spirits brand Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop. Thanks to limitless charm, charisma and good-natured humor, Snoop has become the go-to personality recognized and adored by multiple generations of music fans.

Missionary is the latest, but by no means final, chapter in Snoop’s story. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have our fingers on the pulse of the audience for this entire time,” Dre says. “It’s us being organic and our true selves and the audience gravitated toward that. How fuckin’ blessed and lucky are we that that shit happened?”

For Snoop, his reunion with Dre captures both the classic sounds that helped define a genre and a forward-thinking ethos that constantly drives the two men forward. But equally important, it marks a new era for one of the most important and influential musical duos in music history. “Look at where we at in our career,” says Snoop. “Look at our age. Look at what we’ve done. And we still love each other.”

“Missionary” is the latest, but by no means final, chapter in Snoop’s story. “We [still] in love with what we do. I’m peaking right now and Dr. Dre see that,” states Snoop. “He brings the best out of me because he’s particular about everything I say, the way I deliver it, the fuckin’ music and the concept of the songs.”

Check Out The New Short Film!