Some celebrities launch charitable foundations with press releases and photo ops. Snoop Dogg simply showed up.
In the early 2010s, staff at the Willowbrook Library in South Central Los Angeles began noticing an unusual regular: a towering figure in a hoodie, sunglasses, and surprisingly impeccable manners who spent afternoons reading children’s books out loud to kids. That figure turned out to be Snoop Dogg.
There was no formal announcement. No news coverage. Snoop would simply enter, nod to the librarians, and select a book—usually something by Dr. Seuss or Mo Willems. What started as a one-time visit evolved into a weekly event. Children began referring to it affectionately as “Snoop’s Story Hour,” a name the library eventually adopted for its Tuesday program, even though he never officially endorsed it.
When asked by a local librarian why he had started doing this, Snoop reportedly answered, “Kids need rhymes in their lives. It keeps the rhythm right.”
There was no spectacle. No paparazzi. Just a 6-foot-4 rap legend reading “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” in a voice that alternated between soothing baritone and exaggerated pigeon squawks. On one occasion, he re-voiced an entire book live, translating the characters into distinct personas, including a small pig with a thick East Coast accent and a cat who sounded suspiciously like a 1970s funk radio host.
Parents assumed it was some sort of impromptu partnership with the city’s public library system. It was not. According to library staff, Snoop never once asked for any publicity or compensation. He never brought a media team. He just came in, read stories, signed a few bookmarks, and occasionally donated a box of books with a note that read, simply, “Pass it on. -Uncle Snoop.”
This unpublicized chapters-and-chill campaign ran quietly for nearly two years, until Snoop’s touring schedule pulled him away. When asked in a later interview about his time at the library, he replied, “Books are dope. Especially the ones with pictures.”
Today, a laminated sign still hangs in the Willowbrook Library’s children’s section. Printed in Comic Sans, it reads: “Snoop Sat Here (And Read About a Mouse Who Gave a Moose a Muffin).”