DOCUMENT: Crime

Snoop Dogg Slapp'd With Lawsuit

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Snoop Dogg Slapp'd With Lawsuit

M.I.A.: Lenny Kravitz didn't rock the vote.

MARCH 26--A Los Angeles man yesterday sued Snoop Dogg over the use of an answering machine message on a cut from the rapper's latest album. Why is that an actionable offense? Because the plaintiff--only identified as "John Doe" in the below Los Angeles Superior Court complaint--claims that the cut in question, "Pimp Slapp'd," is a profane denouncement of Marion "Suge" Knight, Snoop's former comrade and Death Row Records boss. And, Doe contends, since his voice appears on a song in which Snoop (real name: Calvin Broadus) calls Knight a "bitch" and says the label owner "fucked up the industry," he is now in danger of suffering reprisals from Knight, who is feuding with Broadus and closely affiliated with the Bloods street gang. Doe, who uses the nickname "Jim Bob" on the answering machine message, says that when he asked Snoop why he used his 52-second "private message" on the album, the rapper replied, "it was so real." Doe's complaint notes that, "it is so real that Plaintiff now fears for his life and that of his elderly mother because it appears that he, as a Compton resident...is supporting Broadus in the turf war" against Knight, who is also called "Simon." Doe's complaint, which charges Broadus with intentional infliction of emotional distress and voice appropriation, does not specify exact monetary damages. (7 pages)

Click here for an MP3 excerpt from John Doe's phone message.