Snoop Dogg needs dagga to write songs

Los Angeles - Snoop Dogg needs "a lot of weed" and "females" to write new tracks.

The Drop it Like it's Hot rapper - who is now re-branding himself Snoop Lion and releasing a reggae album - says he needs certain specific ingredients to get him in the mood before he can write a hit.

He said: "To write rap I've got to smoke a lot of weed. I need some music, old music, R'n'B, hip hop, anything that's 70s, 80s, 60s, something that's inspiring, then I've got to have a couple of females around for inspiration."

'It's a sport to me'

The veteran hip-hop star may need to be under the influence to write new songs, but he takes his art very seriously, comparing it to a sport.

He added: "It's a sport to me, because it's like you're driving me to want to out-do you. It's like if I saw you doing a three sixty kick on a skateboard, I gotta do a seven twenty, just to outdo you. My style of rap, I'm going to say is tae-kwon-do."

Snoop is one of a number of rappers who stars in new film, Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap directed by Ice-T and featuring Eminem, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Q-Tip and many more. The film will be released on DVD in October.