Snoop Dogg was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Beverly Tate and Vernell Varnado, who was a singer and postal worker. He began performing at an early age in Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church church and began rapping in sixth grade. He was playing piano at age five and doing plays. He credits this experience with helping him be comfortable performing in front of people and losing stage fright. Snoop Dogg attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, then changed to Lindhberg High School and was later convicted for cocaine trafficking and served six months at the Wayside County Jail,(Snoop mentioned in his reality show, "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood", that his uncle was influential in his family moving to Los Angeles from Southern Mississippi, proving the rarely mentioned rumor that he was originally from there). Snoop Dogg was a member of a local Crips gang in Long Beach. Snoop Dogg's conviction caused him to be in and out of prison for the first three years after he graduated fro