HOLLYWOOD -- When you're one of the top dogs in town, you sense others nipping at your heels.

That's certainly the case with Cordozar Broadus -- better known as the rapper-turned-actor Snoop Dogg.

When Warner Bros. announced they were planning a movie version of the '70s buddy cop TV series Starsky & Hutch, Snoop, 32, had his people call Warner's people to let them know he was interested in playing the street-wise informant Huggy Bear.

"When I was growing up in Long Beach, I used to rush home from school to watch Starsky & Hutch. I was really in love with it back then which is what inspired me to step up and ask for this role," says Snoop. "I didn't just sit back and wait for them to bring the role to me.

"I told them if they were doing Starsky & Hutch, I am Huggy Bear. The Bear is in me."

Snoop wasn't the only rapper to have his people call Warners. P. Diddy also made it known he wanted to play Huggy Bear.

"P. Diddy couldn't have been Huggy Bear. Huggy has a lovable side to him and he reaches a really wide audience. That's the same thing I have and so I can bring it to the role."

Though he acknowledges P. Diddy and several other actors sent word they were interested in the Huggy Bear role, Todd Phillips, who directed Starsky & Hutch, insists there was no contest.

"Huggy Bear was the coolest guy on TV and Snoop Dogg is the coolest guy on the planet so it was just a matter of him letting us know he wanted the role," says Phillips. "The role was always his from conception if he wanted it."

Phillips wasn't anticipating the extra studio security needed for the rapper's participation or working around Snoop's army of personal bodyguards. He quickly learned such precautions are not simply vanity.

"Snoop arrived at the costume fittings with a convoy of eight cars. I thought it was a little excessive until someone tried to ambush Snoop when he was leaving the studio lot.

"They attacked the convoy."

After that, security guards would arrive early each day and comb the locations for possible explosives and Snoop's guards would do their own sweep once the convoy arrived.

"This is America. We all have to worry about staying alive," explains Snoop when reminded of the incident.

"It just seems that my incidents are broadcasted louder because there is always a camera in front of me. I don't let it bother me because I am having so much fun. I'm enjoying my life and I'm going to stay creative in my music and in movies. I'm not about to let anyone frighten me away from doing what I love. I've come a long way and I'm not about to hide."

Snoop and his two brothers were raised by their mother who was a single parent.

"My mom sang in the church choir. She worked all the time in cafeterias just to support us. We fell on some really hard times and found ourselves moving in with people until we could get back on our feet. And there were some Christmases we didn't get nothing and I remember how much it hurt watching the other kids play with their presents."

Snoop says he tried to make his mother proud by working nights in a grocery store when he was in high school, but he saw other guys in his neighbourhood were selling drugs.

"I was 16. I was pulling in $85 a week and there were guys making $1,500 a night selling drugs. It didn't take me long to switch jobs."

It was easy money, but not an easy life.

"I was 17 the first time someone tried to take me out in a drive-by. I ended up in jail and that's where I started rapping for real.

"I'd always rapped, but in jail, guys told me I had a gift because I never had to write anything down. When I got out of jail I pursued my music career."

Today, Snoop Dogg is one of the most successful and most popular of the A-list rappers and he's determined to help others avoid the lifestyle that almost ended his life. He sponsors outreach programs in L.A. and runs a football program for kids in inner-city schools who achieve a high grade-point average.

"Kids want to be in my program. I tell them to show me how much by doing good at school. My team is called the Rolling Heights Raiders. It's one of things I'm most proud of."

Snoop has three pre-teen children of his own. "I try to teach them many things will help them in their lives but I also let them just be kids. I let them make mistakes. I think that's one of the best ways to help them mature."