Soon, for the right price, someone will be able to own one-of-a-kind genuine memorabilia personally owned and sold by Snoop Dogg. The legendary rapper is partnering with memorabilia authentication and auction company The Realest to auction off memorabilia collected throughout his career — including a blunt he once smoked.
The collection, currently available online and aptly titled “The Shiznit,” features handwritten setlists, scripts from various films and TV shows Snoop has been featured in, including “The Boondocks,” contact sheets from music videos like “Just a Baby Boy,” jackets, and clothing including jumpsuits, shirts, jackets, shoes, hats.
The collection also includes photographs, magazines featuring Snoop Dogg on the cover, VHS tapes, recording reels, electronics such as vintage Gameboys, and a Death Row Records gold chain. There’s even a “Snoop Dogg smoked blunt” (preserved in resin in a glass ashtray) up for grabs. Prices for the auction currently range from $5 to $750.
“Make sure you get it ‘cause it’s authenticated,” Snoop Dogg declares in a video promoting the sale on social media.
According to Variety, the first phase of the auction launched this week and will last through June 2. The collection will also be previewed in New York on May 29 and at other locations around the country.
The auction company’s founder, producer and radio host Scott “DJ Skee” Keeney told the publication he launched The Realest to help artists retain profits from the sales of their priceless iconic memorabilia.
The Realest has the potential to solve two major problems within the memorabilia industry. The first is that often, when setlists, handwritten mementos, and signed autographs end up on eBay or memorabilia sites, the celebrities they belong to rarely have any involvement or opportunity to profit from the sale. The second is how often fake memorabilia is passed off as authentic. However, it’s unclear what commission The Realest will make off of sales.
Keeney told Variety, “Snoop is passionate about helping introduce an entirely new revenue stream for artists that is not just a typical ‘estate’ or garage-type sale of items, but from documented and authenticated ephemera.”
Snoop added, “This is sh– that we have, but we didn’t know it was worth something.”