All About Snoop Dogg & Pharrell Williams' "Drop It Like It's Hot"
Long before Snoop or Williams appeared on The Voice, they spun hip-hop gold with "Drop It Like It's Hot."
With Snoop Dogg's arrival on the Season 26 Coaches panel of The Voice, he joins a legendary lineup of Coach alums, including his "Drop It Like It's Hot" collaborator Pharrell Williams.
Williams joined the show as a Coach in 2014, bringing his producer's perspective and keen ear for originality to the panel. Snoop came on board as a Key Advisor in Season 20, sharing decades of experience as a hip-hop legend before being tapped as a Season 26 Coach.
However, years before The Voice's premiere, Snoop and Williams made music history with their supernova hit "Drop It Like It's Hot." The track continues to rock radio waves two decades after its release and solidified Snoop and Williams as a dynamite duo in the recording studio.
RELATED: Pharrell Williams' Movie, Music, and TV Career, Explained
All about Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams' "Drop It Like It's Hot"
Released in 2004 as the lead single on Snoop's seventh studio album, R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece, "Drop It Like It's Hot" was an instant smash. The track was the brainchild of both Snoop and producer duo The Neptunes, made up of Chad Hugo and Williams, who had previously produced tracks for Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, and Usher, to name a few.
Williams and Snoop's team-up on "Drop It Like It's Hot" remains one of their most iconic career milestones, climbing the charts and becoming a defining song of the 2000s. Williams' stripped-down production style paired perfectly with Snoop's smooth, laid-back delivery.
RELATED: All About Rapper and Olympic Commentator Snoop Dogg
The downtempo production for the track includes infectious tongue clicks, keyboard wizardry, and a staccato drum machine that sets a hypnotic tone for the catchy rap verses performed by Williams and Snoop.
"Drop It Like It's Hot" became Williams' first global success and Snoop's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, spending 30 weeks on the chart. According to Snoop's 2023 interview featured in Audible Original's Words + Music series, Snoop was so impressed by Williams' flow, he joked "[Pharrell] done took the bar all the way … I cannot let Pharrell out-rap me on my motherf*****g song!"
The accompanying music video, directed by Paul Hunter, is now iconic. The black-and-white visuals mirror the minimalism of the song itself and feature slick, stylized shots of Williams and Snoop. The video featured Snoop's sons, Corde and Cordell, plus, Hugo, Pusha T, Terry Kennedy, and Lauren London.
"Drop It Like It's Hot" was nominated for two 2005 Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The song has since experienced many lives; it was even sampled in Jamie Foxx and T-Pain's hit "Blame It."
Watch Snoop in the Season 26 premiere of The Voice on Monday, September 23 at 8/7c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
