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American Gangster Trap Queens Season 4 Episode 1
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00:00I want to be an actress.
00:10I want to be a super star.
00:12She was going to be on The Wire.
00:14That might be a good opportunity to get out the streets.
00:17She was a natural.
00:18It was all living a double life.
00:20Before The Wire, I wanted to be the next Zelda blocker.
00:24I had to kill or be killed mentality.
00:28Fuck you and your family.
00:30I seen her bust chicks in the head.
00:31I seen her rob chicks.
00:33Snoop was a wild cowgirl.
00:36I went from 20 grand of heroin to 100 grand.
00:39And it just keeps growing from there.
00:42When you love the street life,
00:43some people just don't know how to let that shit go.
00:46You don't do a wire tap unless you're talking about
00:48a really serious drug organization.
00:52Now they got the wire on the wire.
00:54It was planted all over the news.
00:57My whole future is on the line.
00:59Whenever you have a story like that, you always need a bad guy.
01:02I went from Baltimore Queen Pint to Hollywood fame.
01:09Everything was rolling.
01:11To the feds heard my name.
01:12It was 2004, and I was 24 years old.
01:24I had came from being a convicted felon and a drug dealer.
01:30Somehow, I found myself portraying a killer and a drug dealer on this show, The Wire.
01:37I wanted to be a superstar.
01:39This nigga gonna get got.
01:41But while I was playing the dope queen on one of the hottest shows,
01:45I wanted to be the biggest drug dealer in the world.
01:48One day, I was sitting in my trailer, and the producer sat me down and said,
01:54Do you want to keep one foot in the streets, or do you want to choose Hollywood?
01:59If this is not something that you can see yourself continuously doing,
02:04we have to cut ties with you.
02:06My trap phone started ringing.
02:10People calling me to get some more grams.
02:14It's like I had to make a life-changing decision.
02:18But the streets calling, and I got this.
02:22Which one you gonna choose?
02:23How the fuck did I get here?
02:35Baltimore, Maryland.
02:38Between some of the highest murder rates in the country,
02:41a booming drug trade,
02:43and the infamous police murderer Freddie Gray,
02:46Charm City's failures are notorious.
02:49It's why sometimes Baltimore's success stories get lost in the noise.
02:53And why the story of Felicia Snoop Pearson, born in 1980, is one in a million.
03:01In Baltimore, you see everything.
03:05You see violence.
03:07You see happiness.
03:08You see fights.
03:09You see people hustling.
03:11People get their head smacked off.
03:14You be a product of your environment.
03:17In the 80s and 90s, when Snoop was growing up,
03:19the crack epidemic was horrific for Black Baltimore, specifically.
03:25You had kids seeing individuals doing illegal activities
03:29where they were recruited to participate.
03:32Felicia's mother was one of those caught up in Baltimore's brutal drug scene at the time.
03:41She was suffering from addiction when she got pregnant by a hustler named Bernie.
03:45As a result, in 1980, Felicia was born with symptoms related to prenatal exposure to crack cocaine.
03:54I spent two months in a hospital.
03:56I died three times.
03:58Coming out of the hospital, I was so small, you could put me in a pawn in your hand.
04:04My mother was getting high.
04:06That addiction is a sickness.
04:08Felicia was placed in foster care in the home of Cora and Levi Pearson.
04:14Mama was 60 when she adopted me.
04:17Pop was a handyman.
04:20Levi was quiet.
04:22He was a father she never had.
04:23Cora was a breath of fresh air.
04:26She loved people.
04:28Mama gave me the love and nurture that a child needs, so I was just fortunate.
04:34As a kid, Felicia got love from her parents, but outside, she heard a lot of noise from her peers.
04:44Kids could be evil.
04:46They sit there, they pick, they tease.
04:51Kids say, you're adopted.
04:54Your mother don't care nothing about you.
04:57And this shit was true.
05:00I didn't have my biological mother.
05:02You just start feeling like nobody don't give a fuck about you.
05:07And that's how I start treating the world.
05:09Kids can be cruel and shit.
05:10That causes some kind of trauma as well.
05:12Being teased.
05:14She had to prove herself.
05:15She lashed out.
05:17She was always in fights.
05:21I was this boy trying to take my little juicy juice job.
05:24I whooped.
05:25By age 8, in 1988, Felicia was a firecracker constantly popping off.
05:34If they're gonna die with me or die with me.
05:37At the same time, she was realizing she was different in more ways than one.
05:42I always been a tomboy.
05:45But back then, couldn't just come out, yo, I'm gay.
05:49Snoop didn't like wearing dresses.
05:51She wasn't a girly girl.
05:52And that's difficult for people.
05:56People was like, look at the little bull dagger.
05:58Because recess, we had to go outside.
06:01That bullying gave me tough skin.
06:04She had to learn how to maneuver at such a young age.
06:07I don't think the idea of dangerous really connected with her.
06:12When she wasn't throwing hands, 8-year-old Felicia was on the stoop.
06:17Watching the flow of dealers, junkies, and hustlers.
06:20I ain't back down from a fight.
06:23I ain't scared to lose, never gave up in my life.
06:25Oliver and motherfucking Marfit, man.
06:27This is my motherfucking house right here.
06:30I feel free.
06:33Just sitting on these steps.
06:35These four corners, man.
06:38It's all I used to know.
06:41Sitting outside on the steps.
06:43Just seeing people out there, they exposed me to a lot of things.
06:46I feel good.
06:48I can do anything and be who I want to be.
06:50You'll see, like, big-time drug dealers.
06:55Big stack of cash.
06:57They got the big rings.
07:00There was power and there was respect.
07:02And I made it from the mud, so I put it on display.
07:05Usually kids be playing jump rope and behind they pipe, but she was trying to get into something.
07:10More than what the younger kids was doing.
07:14In the 80s and 90s in Baltimore, it was just crazy.
07:18We were making $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 off a block easy.
07:21So, Snoop just kind of watched the way we were moving.
07:26It's like a kid.
07:27Then you got your role model.
07:29Some people was hurt your tummy.
07:31Mine was gangsters.
07:33You know?
07:36That's when I really started being in the streets.
07:41One of my homies still called me Snoop.
07:44He said, I remind him of the cartoon Snoopy.
07:49Crazy.
07:51Then, later that year, a local drug boss put the girl they call Snoop to the test.
07:58Rico was like the big brother out of everybody.
08:01This how it happened.
08:02The police was pulling up.
08:05And they seen him.
08:06He just come up like, yo.
08:07And he just threw me the packs.
08:10And I held it.
08:12You know?
08:13So, I started off.
08:14He really was giving her that pack to see her loyalty.
08:17Sure enough, she stayed right there.
08:19And when Rico came back, she had the packs.
08:23And she gave it to him.
08:24It was all good.
08:26Having aced Rico's exam, Snoop began holding dope on the regular.
08:31He gave me a little $50, a little $100.
08:33Because you see an eight-year-old child sitting on a stoop, the police not going to fuck with it.
08:40So, she was learning that she was not the kid that was being bullied.
08:46She actually gained some form of status.
08:50I felt protected.
08:51I was trying to get love on the streets.
08:53And I got it.
08:55That felt good.
08:56But while Snoop was getting started in the game, her elderly adoptive parents were losing their grip on her.
09:06They tried to shield me from the outside where pot was on my ass.
09:10But I'm sneaking off to the point, like, I want him coming home.
09:16I always would tell her, if Ancora really knew what you were doing, what would she think of it?
09:21The streets already had got a hold of me.
09:23So, what can they do?
09:25For three years, Snoop ran errands for the corner boys.
09:31But she was itching to move up in the game.
09:35On one fateful day in 1991, at age 11, she got her shot.
09:42We sitting there playing basketball.
09:44Whoever that guy come.
09:46Yeah, man.
09:47Pop, pop, pop.
09:49Threw us the gun.
09:50We like, no, what the fuck?
09:51The guy that did the shooting says to Felicia, here, hold this.
09:56And he gives her the gun and runs away.
09:59Now she's holding a murder weapon.
10:02We wasn't telling nothing.
10:03Hell no.
10:04That shit was traumatizing enough.
10:06My head was hurting.
10:07But we stashed that motherfucker, though.
10:11The gun is the great equalizer.
10:13Every day she started carrying it.
10:15So, she didn't even take it to school.
10:17I had a kill or be killed mentality.
10:20You know why?
10:21Because my mother and father ain't come get me.
10:24Fuck you and your family.
10:25That's how I was feeling.
10:26By age 12, in 1992, Snoop was starting to build a reputation in the streets.
10:34She was barely a teenager when dealers let her run point at a trap house.
10:39Now, I'm already strapped up on a grass wing.
10:42So, I'm running stash houses.
10:44Rico used to always tell her to hold his guns and hold the packs in the house.
10:48And when I call you and whistle for you, come outside.
10:52I was running the stash house when I was 12.
10:57I'm getting $1,000 probably every three days.
11:00That's a lot of money for a person that's 12 years old.
11:08Sixth grade middle school is lit.
11:11The baggy dress on.
11:13Got my hair all twisted up with the rubber bands.
11:19I'll take all my homeboys out.
11:21We'll get the gold front.
11:23Get the big dookie rings, dookie chains.
11:27Buy new bikes.
11:29But I couldn't really bring it home because mama on my ass.
11:33Mama didn't approve of it.
11:35But it wasn't really in mama control anymore.
11:43Snoop was suddenly at the center of a world of chaos, cash, and killing.
11:47And even if she was numb to the violence in 1992, when her adoptive pops got sick, Snoop got a stiff reminder that she could still feel pain.
11:58It's the only man I know for real that loved me.
12:01When Pop passed away, that's when I really stopped getting into the streets.
12:06At age 13 in 1993, Snoop was ready for the next step up in the game, street enforcer.
12:17They'll say, like, your girlfriend cheated on you or something, and you want to get her back.
12:23So you come and give me some money, and I'm whooping her.
12:28They'll call Snoop the pistol with the girls.
12:32I seen her bust chicks in the head.
12:34I seen her rob chicks.
12:35Snoop was a wild cowgirl.
12:37I already had my street rep.
12:39Every day, my pistol went with my belt.
12:41I can remember her coming to the house, always had on, like, real expensive tennis shoes, real expensive clothes.
12:49And she was like, they gave me $5,000.
12:52And I'm like, what did you do today to earn this money?
12:55I had to smack somebody that ran off with something.
13:00I didn't care if I lived or died.
13:03So, yeah, I was heartless.
13:05I was fearless.
13:06By the spring of 95, at age 14, Snoop was an out-and-out terror.
13:13Her hunger for action would lead to a life-altering encounter.
13:19That was babysitting around Monique's house.
13:22It was a fight, so I was on the curve, like, watching the fight.
13:28Everybody heard that it was a fight going on.
13:30When I came over there, the girl was swinging the bat at Snoop.
13:34That fuck Snoop up.
13:36So, Snoop pulled out the gun.
13:40I was shot into the crowd.
13:44And she tried to run, chase her down, shot her in the alley five times.
13:52She got hit two or three.
13:54Once in the neck.
13:57Once in the buttocks.
13:59And, unfortunately for her, the arteries that it hit, it was the fatal wound.
14:13After fatally shooting Okia tumor in 1995, 14-year-old Snoop needed to get off the street.
14:21After that shooting, I went on the run for, like, 30 days.
14:25Maybe a week later, word started getting out that Snoop killed Okia.
14:33It was plastered all over the news.
14:36It was in the newspaper.
14:37I knew that it was serious.
14:40My name had me on Merlin Moore's warning.
14:43Although Snoop was scared, she was more worried about Mama.
14:46Homicide kept going, took my mother out.
14:50Mama was like, please, Felicia, they're going to kill you.
14:53You know they kill black people.
14:55The only reason why I turned myself in is because of Mama.
14:59Snoop surrendered herself and was locked up in Baltimore City Jail, along with hardened adult criminals.
15:06I'm 14, I ain't even hit puberty yet, but I'm in city jail.
15:12Because she's black, they're going to throw the book at her.
15:15I pled guilty to second-degree murder.
15:18I pled guilty, but it was self-defense.
15:21I had got 10 years, two suspended.
15:23I made my bid, I got lying.
15:29In 1996, at age 15, Snoop began her bid in Merlin's Jessup Correctional Institution.
15:37That's when I was in jail back then.
15:39I felt remorseful.
15:40I learned real-world skills because I never wanted to come back here again.
15:46She did obtain her GED.
15:48That was a very proud moment for her.
15:50I ain't want to come home and be in the streets.
15:53In 2000, at age 20, after five and a half years inside,
15:59Snoop was released from Grandma's house and came home to Mama's house.
16:04I tried to come home and do the right thing.
16:06Well, it's so hard to come back to society,
16:11especially when you have violent crimes.
16:14If they do a background check and they see a murder,
16:18they're letting you go.
16:20I was working for Ford, making bumpers.
16:22They fired me because of my background.
16:24I had another job at the book factory.
16:27They fired me from that.
16:28I'm black, I'm gay, I'm a girl, and I'm a convicted felon.
16:32All of the strikes to have against you in this world.
16:36Well, I'm not going to be sitting here starving.
16:40Snoop said, well, there's one thing I know how to do successfully,
16:44and that was sell drugs.
16:46Snoop's boy, Rico, had been gunned down in 99.
16:58Now, there was a new boss on the corner.
17:01When Rico got murdered, Sean took over the operation.
17:06When Sean came to play, he started giving her the bags up.
17:09Dope.
17:09She took off from that.
17:12I had $1,500, and I got me 20 grams of heroin.
17:19I got a dope wholesale because my relationship with S
17:23was like a brother and sister.
17:26It's heroin, so I'm cutting it.
17:28Say, like, I got five grams.
17:30I get them for $60 a piece.
17:33So out of that five grams,
17:35I probably made, like, 150 pills out of that, so.
17:39With her heroin hookup locked down,
17:44Snoop was ready to claim the corner and find her crew.
17:48So when you got things in your track record,
17:51pistol whip, murder somebody,
17:54that allows you to be the boss.
17:56She would sit on the stoop and chill
17:58and watch the operation go.
18:00It's four corners.
18:01It's it.
18:02It's my block.
18:04You had a lookout.
18:06You had a header that gave people drugs,
18:08and you had the money man.
18:11The money man needs to stay far away from the hitter.
18:14In case the police come in and grab the hitter,
18:16he don't have the money man.
18:18I went from 20 grams of heroin
18:20to 50 grams to 100 grams.
18:24And it just keeps growing from there.
18:27It used to be a cheese line.
18:28That's what they call that.
18:29Like, when they all line up on the wall
18:31and everybody's purchasing.
18:32Like, right here,
18:34I used to probably have, like, 200 people.
18:37I'm talking about things.
18:39Like, jamming.
18:40It was so much.
18:42I used to put money out of the bin,
18:44and then I'd go in there and be like,
18:45Mama, you know you got some money right here?
18:48And she'd be like,
18:49Hey, baby, I ain't know I had that.
18:51And it's me the whole time.
18:53I think Mama knew the money was coming from the streets,
18:56and I think that's why Mama
18:58didn't willingly take things from Snoop.
19:01I know it was wrong,
19:03but shit, they sold her to my mother
19:06and almost killed me.
19:09But I fucked with our kid.
19:10I was going to be the next Zelda blocker.
19:13That's how I was thinking back then.
19:17Within months of her return to the game,
19:20Snoop was stacking 20 bands a day
19:22slinging heroin pills on the streets of Baltimore.
19:24And she was bawling out.
19:30You would go to the strip club,
19:32throw money, and then drive to D.C.,
19:34and then go drink champagne.
19:38She always had money.
19:39Always had a lot of money.
19:41I was spending my money on dumb shit.
19:44Going to the strip club,
19:46throwing 10,000 up,
19:49and it'd just be on and popping.
19:51Snoop's relationships with women,
19:53how can I say it?
19:55They were a lot.
19:57Pairing bitches' rents,
19:58moving bitches in,
20:00getting titties done,
20:01getting bitches' bodies done.
20:03I've known a couple doctors out here
20:05if y'all need no hookup.
20:08She definitely had a reputation.
20:10She was having fun.
20:12Snoop felt like she was living
20:13in a gangsta's paradise
20:15until one night in 2004
20:17at age 23
20:19when she met an actor
20:20who happened to be working in town.
20:23Club one in Baltimore.
20:24I was in there one night.
20:26This man keep looking at me.
20:28He got the scar on his face.
20:29He looked intimidated.
20:31I said,
20:31what the fuck does he keep looking at me for?
20:34So after that,
20:35Michael K. Williams
20:36came over and introduced himself to me.
20:38He was like,
20:39I don't mean no harm,
20:40but are you a girl or a boy?
20:44I was like,
20:44listen, nigga,
20:45I don't play none of that shit.
20:46I love bitches.
20:47Pussy,
20:48don't play with me.
20:49He was like,
20:50nah, man,
20:51I like this swagger.
20:53He was like,
20:53uh,
20:54give me a play on the wire.
20:56I never even watched the wire.
20:57Bitch,
20:58while y'all was in the house
20:59watching the wire,
20:59I was outside hustling.
21:01In 2004,
21:03The Wire was filming its third season.
21:06The show shined a harsh light
21:08on society,
21:09politics,
21:09and crime in Snoop's hometown.
21:12Michael K. Williams
21:13came up to me
21:14and David Simon said,
21:15hey,
21:16Ed,
21:16you got to meet this person.
21:17The next day he called me.
21:19He was like,
21:20yeah,
21:20come up here.
21:20I was sitting there
21:21talking in his trailer.
21:24The people had
21:24gave me a script.
21:26They was trying to see
21:27how I sound.
21:29I said,
21:30Felicia,
21:30would you like to try
21:31to do something with us?
21:35I said,
21:35here's the deal.
21:36We can put you in.
21:37You'll be another
21:39gangster girl.
21:41We'll start from there
21:42and see where it goes.
21:46And she said,
21:47yeah.
21:47I was a professional hustler,
21:52so why can't I be
21:53a professional actress?
21:56I just was like,
21:58yo,
21:58that might be a good
21:59opportunity for her
22:00to get out the streets.
22:04That day came,
22:05the first time she needed
22:06to show up
22:07on the side of the wire.
22:09And I got a call,
22:10and it was from Felicia.
22:12I said,
22:13what's up?
22:13She said,
22:14I didn't know
22:15the car was stolen.
22:17I said,
22:17what?
22:18She says,
22:19I'm up in New York.
22:20And then they stopped us
22:22for a stolen car.
22:24But I wasn't driving.
22:25I didn't know
22:25it was stolen.
22:27And it's going to take
22:28me a little while
22:29to work this out,
22:29but am I done?
22:31I came straight
22:39from the streets
22:39to season three
22:40of The Wire.
22:42On my very first day
22:43on a set,
22:45Paps pulled us over.
22:47My friend is like,
22:48the car's stolen.
22:51And so I called Ed,
22:52and I was like,
22:54I'm not going to make it
22:55to set.
22:56Am I done?
22:57Y'all kicking me off?
22:58I said,
23:01when you get back,
23:02let me know
23:03and we'll try it again.
23:06I had a one
23:07in a million chance,
23:09and I thought
23:09I ruined that shit already.
23:13God got other plans,
23:14you know?
23:17At age 23,
23:19Snoop had been given
23:19the chance of a lifetime.
23:22But the set of a TV show
23:23was a whole nother trip.
23:26It was so many white people.
23:28I'm not used to
23:29so many white people
23:31in one space
23:32unless I'm in trouble.
23:35But I was so nervous up there
23:37because camera right here,
23:38camera right here,
23:39camera right here.
23:40I'm like,
23:40what the fuck?
23:42My first time
23:43being an actress,
23:44I couldn't wait to speak
23:45because they kept telling me,
23:47as soon as you speak,
23:48your money will grow up.
23:49She had new lines
23:50the first time,
23:51but she made the most
23:52of the opportunities she had.
23:54Snoop played
23:55a cold-blooded young lieutenant
23:57in drug kingpin Marlowe's crew,
23:59a role she was born to play.
24:02When I met Snoop,
24:03I was shooting the wire.
24:05I just felt her vibe.
24:06I was like,
24:07oh shit,
24:07that ain't no act,
24:08man,
24:08that's really her.
24:10So yeah,
24:11I fucks with Shorty,
24:12and we just clicked
24:12from that day off.
24:14She was a natural.
24:15She fit the role perfectly,
24:17and then grew past the role.
24:19acting did connect me back
24:21to my emotions
24:22and my feelings.
24:24In the streets,
24:25you can't have no feelings.
24:27You can't have no heart.
24:30You barely can have a soul.
24:34Snoop didn't really
24:36play a character.
24:37Snoop played Snoop
24:38on the wire.
24:39They never had
24:40a character for me,
24:42but I aced
24:43that motherfucker
24:44so well,
24:45they put my whole name
24:46in it.
24:47Felicia Snoop Pearson,
24:48my real name.
24:49When Snoop goes cold
24:51in the assassinations,
24:53you can feel it.
24:57Sometimes,
24:58they have some
24:59dialogue for me.
25:01I'd be like,
25:01yo,
25:02nobody in Baltimore
25:03would talk like that.
25:04That's too proper.
25:05You know what I mean?
25:06That's not realistic.
25:07She would just come up
25:08and tell me,
25:09we don't say it that way.
25:11And I'd go to
25:12the script coordinator
25:13and say,
25:13we don't say it that way.
25:15She's seen it
25:18as an opportunity,
25:19but I like how
25:20the streets
25:21was bringing in
25:21the money.
25:23Snoop was hyped
25:24for her new TV life,
25:25but back on the corner,
25:27she was still the boss
25:31and she wasn't
25:33about to quit
25:33her day job.
25:35I used to shoot
25:35the wire right here
25:36in my trap.
25:38You know what I mean?
25:38My whole,
25:39my block right here,
25:40like a block away.
25:41That's how close it is.
25:45I used to have
25:45my lunch break
25:46with a wire
25:47and come down here.
25:48Yo,
25:49what's up?
25:49Give me my money.
25:50What's up?
25:50What you got?
25:51Yeah,
25:51what's up?
25:52You know what I mean?
25:52Make sure everything good,
25:53man.
25:54That's how close it was,
25:55man.
25:55I'm really Baltimore.
25:57Eastside, baby.
26:00Now she was living
26:01a double life,
26:02running dope
26:03on both sides
26:04of the camera.
26:05At this point,
26:06the streets
26:07made her over
26:07100K a week
26:09and a speaking role
26:10on the wire.
26:11You laughing.
26:12I'm in school, dog.
26:14It was just
26:15a couple hundred
26:15dollars a day.
26:17She always had
26:18that duality with her.
26:19People didn't
26:20fully realize
26:22who she was
26:23once we said
26:24cut and she went home.
26:25But I'm sure
26:27that people had an idea.
26:29When you love
26:30the street life,
26:31some people just
26:32don't know
26:32how to let that shit go.
26:33It was hard
26:34living a double life.
26:36Snoop the actor,
26:37Snoop the drug dealer.
26:38I gotta go over here
26:40and cut up 200 grams.
26:42I gotta be on set
26:43all day.
26:45I gotta go hunt
26:46this person down
26:47and get my money.
26:49Soon as lunch break
26:50come,
26:50I'm going
26:51and checking
26:53on my block.
26:55You can take
26:55the kid out the hood,
26:56but you can't take
26:56the hood out the kid.
26:59She had to know
27:01that acting
27:02was gonna be successful
27:04before she let
27:05everything go.
27:06What I was doing,
27:08selling drugs,
27:09that shit went right.
27:11I felt bad about it,
27:12but back then,
27:14the wire was
27:15giving me $100.
27:16I was mad as shit
27:17about that little $100.
27:18Bitch,
27:18I'm sitting here
27:19all day, bitch.
27:20I could have been
27:20cutting something up,
27:21putting something on the block.
27:23Snoop was a trap queen
27:25moonlighting as an actress,
27:26but she caught on
27:27fast on the wire
27:28and soon her talent
27:30was undeniable.
27:31Everybody's saying
27:33Omar's on this warpath.
27:34Everybody's...
27:35Everybody need
27:35to shut the fuck up.
27:38Anytime I worked
27:39with Snoop,
27:40I knew that I never
27:41had to worry about
27:42anything feeling
27:43inauthentic
27:44because she would
27:45call it out.
27:46She's like a compass.
27:47Her due north
27:48is truth.
27:49It's very difficult
27:50to draw up fierceness.
27:53And don't forget,
27:53she's been practicing
27:54since the age
27:55of five or six.
27:57So she had it
27:57down pat.
27:59If you don't go
27:59through nothing,
28:00you don't know nothing.
28:02It was all her.
28:03We just set the scene up,
28:05threw some dialogue
28:06out there,
28:06and let her go.
28:09Looking at Denzel,
28:11looking at Queen Latifah,
28:13I want that life
28:14for myself
28:15and for my family.
28:17I shed a tear
28:18because Mama
28:20was so happy
28:22that I was on TV
28:23and I wasn't in trouble.
28:25I was doing something
28:26great with my life.
28:28By the time
28:28season three of The Wire
28:30wrapped in 2004,
28:32Snoop's talent
28:32was too large
28:33to ignore.
28:34But so was
28:35her drug hustle.
28:37The Wire,
28:38they knew
28:39I sell drugs.
28:41I felt a little bad
28:42because all these people
28:44over here
28:45are doing the right thing
28:46and I'm over here
28:47doing the wild shit.
28:48The producers
28:49of The Wire
28:50had learned
28:51of her activities
28:52in the evening hour.
28:54I thought
28:55she needed to get out
28:56of the drug game
28:57and move forward
28:58as an actor.
29:00Ed Burns
29:00and David Simon
29:02sat me down
29:03and said,
29:05when we're ready
29:05to make you a star,
29:07you want to sell drugs
29:08or you want to be an actress?
29:10If this is not
29:11something that you
29:12can see yourself
29:13continuously doing,
29:14we have to cut ties
29:16with you.
29:17I knew she was
29:18in the game,
29:19but my hope
29:20was for her
29:20to take this opportunity
29:22and pursue it
29:24because she was
29:25less with it.
29:28Sitting in my trailer
29:30and I'm just
29:32reflecting
29:33and I'm like,
29:34yo,
29:34these people said
29:35they're going to make
29:35me a super star.
29:37Then
29:37I got my phone
29:40ringing.
29:42People calling me
29:43to get some more
29:44grams.
29:45It's like
29:46I had to make
29:47a life-changing
29:48decision
29:48and I got
29:50so much pressure
29:51on me.
29:52All these people
29:52telling me
29:53do the right thing,
29:55but I got
29:56the streets calling
29:57and I got this.
29:59Which one
29:59you want to choose?
30:00I know I had to
30:15get one of them.
30:19If I choose Hollywood,
30:22is that going to be
30:22my right path?
30:24I still had drugs.
30:26I didn't really need
30:27the wire at all.
30:28But I prayed about it.
30:34And I chose acting.
30:39I left the streets alone.
30:41I'm not selling drugs
30:42no more.
30:43I always felt like
30:45don't trust everybody.
30:46Everybody ain't your friend.
30:48But these people said
30:49they're going to make me a star.
30:50I believed in it.
30:52She saw how it ran
30:54and how there was community.
30:57It opened up a window
30:58that she didn't even know existed.
31:01So easy for me to do wrong.
31:04How about to do right this time?
31:06I picked up the script
31:07instead of picking up the scale.
31:09Snoop left the game
31:13and walked straight
31:14into the spotlight.
31:19Season 4, episode 1,
31:21Ed Burns and David Simon
31:23told me that
31:24the first face
31:25you people want to see
31:25is yours.
31:28Nail gun scene.
31:29Snoop's dopest scene
31:31of the whole show
31:32right there.
31:3427 caliber, huh?
31:36Yeah, for driving nails
31:37it's enough.
31:37Any more than that
31:38you'd add to the recoil.
31:39Man, shit.
31:41I seen a tiny-ass
31:4222, wear on those
31:44drop a nigga
31:44plenty of days, man.
31:46Big joints, though?
31:47Big joints, man.
31:48Just break a bone
31:49and just say fuck it.
31:51You saw the confidence.
31:53She was in her element.
31:54She was applying
31:55all of the shit
31:56that she learned
31:57the seasons before that.
31:58She nailed that shit.
32:00No pun intended.
32:02Man, kill a couple
32:03motherfuckers
32:04with this right here.
32:05I would watch myself.
32:06You know, I'm my worst critic.
32:08But when I seen that,
32:09I said, yeah, sure.
32:10You can do this.
32:12I called myself
32:12an actress right there.
32:15By The Wire season
32:17four premiere in 2006,
32:19when Felicia was 26,
32:21Snoop's transformation
32:22from hood star
32:23to Hollywood star
32:24was paying off.
32:26It gave me 50,000.
32:28That's one check,
32:29one episode,
32:31one scene.
32:32It would take a blind person
32:38not to see
32:39that she was going
32:40to be great.
32:42When Stephen King
32:43says you're the most
32:45terrifying female character
32:47he's ever seen on TV,
32:49you on to something.
32:51Snoop, Snoop, yo, Snoop, yo,
32:52yo, chill.
32:54I was like,
32:54oh, shit,
32:55I'm gonna sound right.
32:56I felt proud
33:00because I was making
33:02my mom proud.
33:04At 50 G's an episode,
33:06Snoop was moving up
33:07on The Wire.
33:08She was also leveling up
33:10her relationship res.
33:11I met Joni at the strip club.
33:15We locked eyes
33:16and I was just like,
33:17whoa.
33:18Me and Snoop
33:19dated for almost two years.
33:22Joni was a loving person.
33:24She's family orientated.
33:27That's what I loved
33:28about Joni.
33:30Being in a relationship
33:31with Snoop
33:32was a rollercoaster.
33:34It got hectic.
33:35It was cute.
33:36It was bad.
33:37It was all those things.
33:40We bumped heads a lot
33:41because I understand
33:43I'm with Snoop
33:44from The Wire.
33:46But outside of work,
33:47why you gotta
33:48keep going out
33:49in the streets?
33:50Look where I come from.
33:52I come from the streets.
33:53I ain't no no better.
33:55And I'm like,
33:56girl,
33:56you need to be
33:57in the house
33:57with me.
33:59I'm thinking like,
34:00no bitch controlling me.
34:03She didn't want people
34:04to look at her like,
34:05oh,
34:06she thinks she better.
34:07She thinks she Hollywood now.
34:09I got tired of it
34:11because I knew
34:12where it was going to lead.
34:14She wasn't trying
34:15to control me.
34:17She just ain't want me
34:17in the streets.
34:19I ain't listen to her.
34:21And that might be
34:22my biggest regret ever.
34:23by season five
34:29in 2007
34:30at age 27,
34:32Snoop was pulling
34:3380K per episode.
34:35She was a full-on
34:36rags-to-riches success,
34:38but she was headed
34:39for a crossroad.
34:41You get the script
34:43a week before,
34:44and we're reading through it,
34:45and I finally get
34:45to that page,
34:46and I read it,
34:47and I'm like,
34:49nah,
34:50they're going to have
34:51me kill Snoop.
34:52My heart drops.
34:55I knew from season four
34:57as a character,
34:58it was best for her
34:59to get killed.
35:02Snoop's character
35:02knew her time was coming.
35:05At the same time,
35:06I'm kind of emotional.
35:09We get on set,
35:10and we're going
35:11through the scene.
35:12She looked at me
35:13one last time.
35:14She's like,
35:15bro, trust me.
35:17It's all good.
35:17And they said,
35:18and action.
35:21How my hair look, Mike?
35:23You look good, girl.
35:30The day after,
35:31she was pissed.
35:35She was kind of
35:36grappling with
35:37leaving the show
35:38and what the show
35:39actually meant to her.
35:40It just was another hurdle
35:42to overcome.
35:43I had to pick myself
35:44off the floor
35:45and start auditioning
35:47auditioning again.
35:52It was 2008,
35:54and Snoop was 28
35:55and suddenly unemployed.
35:57After prison,
35:58she'd fallen back
35:59into the streets.
36:01Would this time
36:01be different?
36:02Even when we was
36:03on a wire,
36:04people was telling me,
36:06yo,
36:06you got this role,
36:07but this shit
36:08ain't easy, man.
36:09I have to grind.
36:10You lose a job
36:11and act
36:11and fucking
36:12treat it like
36:12another hustle.
36:13That means
36:14you may have to
36:15go on another audition
36:16and do roles
36:17that you may not
36:18really want to do
36:19and shit like that.
36:20After The Wire,
36:21I had a reality show
36:22on the table,
36:24auditions,
36:25and rapping.
36:25It's very rough
36:29for her
36:30because she's
36:31sort of typecast
36:32as a female assassin.
36:34The roles don't come
36:35enough to keep
36:37food on the table.
36:38I'm still here
36:39fighting my fears
36:41even through tears
36:42no, I'm not running.
36:44Snoop dug in
36:45and kept grinding
36:46at acting,
36:46determined to carve
36:47out a place
36:48in the creative community.
36:50By 2011,
36:51at age 31,
36:53she landed roles
36:54in TV and film,
36:55dropped rap videos,
36:56and had even written
36:57a successful memoir.
37:00But she still refused
37:02to turn her back
37:03on her ride or dies
37:04from her dope-dealing days.
37:06When I left the gang,
37:07Sean,
37:08he was outside.
37:09He loved a gang.
37:11He was living with me.
37:12He didn't even bring
37:13it around me.
37:14He just living here.
37:15Snoop is very loyal,
37:17even when some people
37:19don't deserve
37:20her love and loyalty.
37:22Sean,
37:23man, that man
37:24did a lot for me, man.
37:26Sean was on the run
37:27at the time.
37:28He was on Baltimore's
37:29Moose Wanted.
37:30One day,
37:31Sean called me
37:32talking.
37:33He said he coming in.
37:35And I said,
37:36bro,
37:36bring me some oo-wee.
37:38Oo-wee is marijuana.
37:40But Sean wasn't
37:41the only one
37:42who heard Snoop's request.
37:43The FBI was listening,
37:46phones tapped,
37:47and that's how I got
37:48caught up in the conspiracy.
37:50With wiretap cases,
37:51it can be an innocuous
37:52conversation that gets you
37:54looped in just because
37:55you called that person's phone.
37:59Now they got
38:00the wire on the wire.
38:01Sean and his drug crew
38:09were the target
38:10of a major sting operation,
38:12including another one
38:13of Snoop's friends
38:14named Rashawn.
38:16And now Snoop was caught up
38:18and the feds
38:19were watching her crib,
38:21hoping to catch a slip-up.
38:22It was
38:23five o'clock
38:25in the morning.
38:26Rashawn come to my
38:27block, my hood.
38:29He calls me
38:30on a curb.
38:32Keep calling me.
38:34Now
38:34I'm worried.
38:37What's going on?
38:39He say to me,
38:40yo, they got my family
38:41wrapped up in the house.
38:42They was trying
38:43to rob him.
38:44They kicked Rashawn
38:45door in
38:46and tied this family up.
38:47And they asked him
38:48for like $20,000,
38:49$30,000.
38:50He didn't have
38:51no money.
38:53So his family
38:53was held high.
38:55And he came
38:56to my house
38:57because I'm the only one
38:59who had some money
39:00around this bitch.
39:01I only had $3,500 on.
39:03I mean,
39:04I'm feeling so bad.
39:05Like, I'm nervous.
39:06I'm scared for them.
39:07So I throw him
39:08the $3,500 down
39:09out the window
39:11just so he can get
39:12the fuck away
39:13from my house.
39:14I was just proud
39:15that everything
39:16was going to be all right.
39:17When she did that,
39:20the feds heard that.
39:22When they went
39:22to Snoop House
39:23to get the money,
39:24the feds was outside,
39:26like, in the area,
39:28waiting.
39:29I should have known
39:30I was ready
39:31to be in some trouble.
39:32It was enough
39:33to pull her into the case
39:34and charge her.
39:37Her condo was raided
39:39and she was then
39:41taken into custody.
39:42It's the feds
39:47and the state
39:48arguing about
39:49who's going to
39:50bring me downstairs.
39:51Me not knowing
39:52the news people
39:53were offering me
39:54downstairs.
39:55They just wanted
39:55to make it more
39:56than what it was.
39:58In 2011,
40:00Snoop was back on TV
40:02for the worst
40:03possible reason.
40:05They say Sean
40:06was the head
40:07in the drug empire.
40:09So I got caught up
40:10because I asked him
40:11for some old weed.
40:12Sometimes experienced
40:14law enforcement officers,
40:15they'll make that
40:16leap of faith
40:16and say,
40:17ooh-wee is
40:18code for her.
40:19When you have
40:21a sick kind of
40:22loyalty to people
40:23that aren't ready
40:24to grow with you,
40:25then you got to
40:26watch that person
40:27because that person
40:28definitely do not
40:28at your best interest
40:29at heart.
40:31I don't blame Sean
40:33at all.
40:34It's my brother.
40:35I love the shit
40:35out here.
40:37Local and federal
40:38police had teamed up
40:40to take down
40:40Sean's drug organization.
40:42making dozens
40:43of arrests
40:44all over Baltimore.
40:46You don't do
40:46a wiretap
40:47unless you're
40:47talking about
40:48a really serious
40:49drug organization.
40:5460 people.
40:55That's a lot
40:56of people.
40:58My charges
40:59was money laundering.
41:01They called my house
41:02the money house
41:03because I'll throw
41:04the money outside.
41:06This arrest right here,
41:08it hurting my feelings
41:09because I wasn't
41:10selling no drugs
41:11or nothing.
41:12The police just said,
41:13oh, we got Snoop.
41:14Ain't no way in the world
41:15we're taking this fish
41:15off the hook
41:16and throwing it back.
41:17She was like,
41:19damn,
41:20can I go down
41:20back down this road
41:21again when
41:22I was doing good?
41:24But yet,
41:25I got caught up.
41:27The impression
41:28came from that,
41:29yeah, babe,
41:30I gotta kick
41:30all this money
41:31out for lawyers.
41:32I had to pay my bill.
41:34I had to move.
41:35I didn't do nothing
41:36this time.
41:37I really didn't, man.
41:38If we're talking
41:38about the media
41:39and the destruction
41:41of prominent
41:43black folks,
41:44whenever you have
41:45a story like that,
41:46you always need
41:46a bad guy.
41:49Them charges
41:49hurt my acting career
41:51because people thought
41:52that I was in the streets.
41:54Everything just
41:54went down the drain
41:56for one little mistake.
41:58She felt like
42:00she let mama down
42:01again,
42:02herself as well.
42:04After all these years,
42:06Snoop found herself
42:07again sitting in
42:08Baltimore City,
42:09jail.
42:10She'd gone full circle
42:11in a way she never imagined.
42:14Now her whole future
42:15was on the line.
42:17It was a bullshit charge
42:18that I'm locked up for.
42:20You said it's the money house,
42:21but you didn't find
42:22no money in my house
42:23when y'all raided my house.
42:25A lot of people
42:26tried to blame Snoop
42:28for the conspiracy
42:29that they were charged with.
42:31They didn't care about her.
42:33The state didn't believe in her
42:34because she had people
42:35trying to roll over on her.
42:37I had to take a plea deal
42:39because motherfuckers
42:40was already copping out
42:42before me.
42:43I was worried
42:44I wasn't going to
42:44ever come home again.
42:46I had no choice
42:47but to take a plea.
42:49Snoop got a seven-year
42:51suspended sentence
42:52and three years
42:53of probation.
42:54She'd almost lost
42:55everything.
42:58Now she had to dig deep
42:59to move forward.
43:00The lesson I learned
43:02from this incident
43:03was
43:04the streets
43:05don't love nobody.
43:08She's honest
43:09about how hard things were
43:10and when she made mistakes
43:12and she's also honest
43:13about how she had
43:14to change her mind
43:15about certain shit.
43:16I started thinking
43:17about all the shit
43:19that I have
43:20pumped in my community.
43:22That shit is poison.
43:23It wasn't right.
43:25I felt remorseful.
43:26How can you be mad
43:28at your mother
43:29when you do it
43:30to somebody else?
43:33Today at 45
43:34Snoop's using
43:36the hustle and charisma
43:37that took her
43:37to the top
43:38of the drug game
43:39to be a force
43:40in Hollywood
43:40and an agent
43:41for change
43:42in the world.
43:43I got a lot going on.
43:45You know
43:46I just did a joint
43:47with Mark Wahlberg.
43:48I did Blue Bloods
43:50with Donnie Wahlberg.
43:51Who could say
43:51they worked
43:52with both Wahlberg brothers.
43:54You know
43:56this older Snoop
43:58is more settled
43:59more mature
44:00more business savvy
44:03just living
44:04a better life.
44:07Now that Baltimore
44:08is legal with grass
44:10this what I do
44:11this my new legal track
44:12my new product
44:13at the stoner's table
44:15this my man
44:16my man grew this for me
44:17nobody can beat
44:18my prices
44:19or my weed man.
44:20She's doing positive things
44:21and having people
44:22like and respect her
44:24in a whole different manner.
44:26I just made
44:26a legal sale
44:27this is my legal hustle now.
44:32I take accountability
44:34for everything I did.
44:36My mama did
44:37a hell of a job.
44:39She's still looking
44:40down on me now
44:41and she knows
44:42that I'm doing
44:43the right thing.
44:46I owe my career
44:47to God first
44:49and then
44:51Mike and K. Williams
44:52and that's why
44:54I try to give
44:55outside people
44:57that don't even know me
44:58hope.
45:00I give you faith
45:01I give you hope.
45:03This journey
45:04helped me
45:04really move
45:06myself
45:07into
45:07Felicia Pearson.
45:08I love you.
45:37I love you.
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