Cynthia Erivo is stepping into hip-hop history, having joined the cast of Universal Pictures\u2019 upcoming Snoop Dogg biopic, Snoop, where she will portray Afeni Shakur, the mother of late rap icon Tupac Shakur.<\/p>\n
The casting announcement adds another major name to the film, which is centred on Snoop Dogg\u2019s journey from Long Beach, California, to becoming one of hip-hop\u2019s most recognisable figures.<\/p>\n
Erivo joins a growing cast led by Jonathan Daviss, who will portray Snoop Dogg, while Camron Jones has been cast as Tupac Shakur. Other cast members include Myles Bullock as Dr. Dre, Lauren London as Snoop\u2019s mother Beverly Tate, Algee Smith as Warren G and Tre Hale as Suge Knight.<\/p>\n
Afeni Shakur was more than just the mother of one of rap\u2019s most influential artists. She was a prominent activist and former member of the Black Panther Party, whose experiences and relationship with her son became an important part of Tupac\u2019s personal story and music.<\/p>\n
Her influence was famously captured in Tupac\u2019s 1995 song \u201cDear Mama,\u201d one of the most emotional records in his catalogue. Following his death in 1996, Afeni also managed his estate and worked to preserve his musical legacy until her passing in 2016.<\/p>\n
Erivo, known for her performances in Wicked, Harriet and The Color Purple, brings considerable acting experience to the role. Her portrayal of Afeni will introduce another important dimension to the film\u2019s exploration of the people and relationships surrounding Snoop\u2019s rise in the music industry.<\/p>\n
Directed by Craig Brewer, the biopic is being produced by Snoop Dogg, Brian Grazer, Allan Mandelbaum and Death Row Pictures president Sara Ramaker. The film will feature music from Snoop\u2019s extensive catalogue and is scheduled to arrive in cinemas on August 6, 2027.<\/p>\n
With the casting of Erivo and Jones, the production is bringing two important figures from Tupac\u2019s life into a film documenting the era that helped shape West Coast hip-hop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cynthia Erivo is stepping into hip-hop history, having joined the cast of Universal Pictures\u2019 upcoming Snoop Dogg biopic, Snoop, where she will portray Afeni Shakur, the mother of late rap icon Tupac Shakur. The casting announcement adds another major name to the film, which is centred on Snoop Dogg\u2019s journey from Long Beach, California, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[160],"class_list":["post-4694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","author-urbanafrica"],"authors":[{"term_id":160,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"urbanafrica","display_name":"URBANAFRICA","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg"},"avatar_alt":"","avatar_decorative":"","author_category":"1","first_name":"Emmanuel","last_name":"I","user_url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/","job_title":"","description":"Top journalist covering music, entertainment, arts, and culture, delivering breaking stories and deep insights that shape the global conversation."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4696,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4694\/revisions\/4696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4694"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}