Snoop Dogg on His Surprising Journey from Rap Rebel to 'America's Most Lovable Person' and Voice's New Coach (Exclusive)

If dogs are man’s best friend, then the artist now and forever known as Snoop D-O-double-G just might be America’s.

Thirty years since Snoop Dogg sauntered onto the scene as a silky-voiced gangster rapper mired in conflict and controversy, the 6'4" star now stands as one of the country’s most beloved icons— and one of its wildest success stories.

“You think about all the things that I went through and where I’m at,” he says, seated inside the office of his South Los Angeles compound, where he’s surrounded by Death Row Records memorabilia and puffing on a joint (now legal in 24 states, including California).

“It’s a lesson: to let the world see growth, how somebody can go from being hated, banned from countries, thrown in jail [for] weed, to now America’s most lovable person. But it’s the same person.”

Indeed, at 52 and still married to his high school sweetheart, Shante, also 52, the father of four and grandfather of 12 explains to PEOPLE in this week's cover story, how he's somehow, someway, managed to evolve while not changing much at all.

Now on the heels of his heart-stealing turn as an Olympic commentator, Snoop’s bringing his talents and hard-won expertise to NBC’s The Voice. “If you choose me, you get a Death Row chain,” he says, previewing how, as a coach, he’ll entice young artists to join his team.

At home in South LA he's coached hundreds of inner-city kids to success with his Snoop Youth Football League, so he knows a thing two about winning. And with a story like his, members of Team Snoop on The Voice are in for a treasure trove of life lessons more valuable than diamonds.

Born in Long Beach, Calif., to mom Beverly Tate, the star was named Calvin Broadus Jr. after his stepfather.

From childhood he answered to Snoopy, a nickname his mom gave him because of a resemblance she saw to the Peanuts character. “I thank my auntie, my mom and my grandmother for bringing me up in church, making me do speeches and perform,” he says. “All of that was training me.”

He began rapping for friends in the halls of his middle school and later pulled material from life in the streets, where he sought camaraderie while getting caught up in criminal activity at the height of gang violence in the late ’80s and ’90s.

“When I was young, we used to rap about living to see 21,” he says. "That was the goal. Then my homies passed away at 25. So the goal was to be 30.”

After he was signed to Dr. Dre’s Death Row Records, his 1993 album Doggystyle made him a star and a well-known outlaw all at once. Early on, it seemed he spent as much time in court as he did in the studio making hits like “Nothin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” and “Gin & Juice.”

But by the late ’90s, after being found not guilty in a years long murder case (his bodyguard shot a man and argued it was self-defense) while watching friends like Tupac Shakur fall victim to the violence they all rapped about, he knew it was time for a change.

“I was stuck in a box with keeping it gangster and trying to appease the hood,” he says. To go from surviving to thriving, he realized, “you can’t take everybody with you.” 

While trying to move forward in a positive direction, “I had to be egotistical and self-centered for a moment to establish how I get down. And I don’t apologize for it,” he says of his headspace while launching Doggystyle Records in 1999.

Soon he was experimenting with a new sound and perspective, with the help of people like Pharrell Williams who produced his 2003 hit "Beautiful". "When Pharrell came around, I felt like, I've established me, now let me work with people who can make me better."

It was similar thinking when he decided to partner up with Martha Stewart for VH1's Snoop & Martha’s Potluck Dinner cooking show in 2016. Their odd couple antics made a splash, thrusting him further into the mainstream spotlight while imbuing Stewart with a new sense of cool.

It’s been one lucrative partnership and brand deal after another ever since. "Snoop is an enigma," says Stewart. Also, "He's taught me a lot." As for their working relationship, “She will call and be like, ‘Snoop, I was trying to get you to do a deal with Skechers. You should [get] with them'," he says. "A year later I’m like, ‘Hey, Martha, I’m on shoe No. 60! Good looking out.’” 

One call Snoop wasn’t expecting came from NBC, asking him to serve as a superstar commentator at this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris. “It felt like a whole other universe, based off of where I started,” he says. “But over the years I felt like I positioned myself for this, showing I’m reliable, professional, that I know what I’m doing, and people love to see me.”

Says NBC Olympics primetime host Mike Tirico, “Snoop was a phenomenal teammate. He worked early mornings, late nights, at venues and in the studio — and did it all with the same energy and enthusiasm no matter the hour...Working with Snoop was just damn cool — like he is.”

Cool indeed. His off-the-cuff commentary full of homegrown slang coupled with some hilarious fish-out-of-water antics endeared him to millions watching around the world. Next up, he's bringing that same infectious energy to The Voice.

"It's perfect timing," he says of joining fellow coaches Reba McEntire, Michael Bublé and Gwen Stefani on the hit show. “I honestly had no idea what to expect when I first met Snoop," says Bublé. "But our connection was immediate. It’s a beautiful thing when you meet someone, and it just clicks. Like the rest of the planet, I’ve always been a Snoop fan."

And Snoop was a fan of the show long before he was tapped to coach. As for what he says he'll bring, "My voice is like nobody else's. Fans are going to be re-energized. I'm going to coach with care and honesty."

He's also going to keep saying yes to any good opportunity, like partnering with the NCAA for Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl Presented by Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop, taking place on Dec. 28. Snoop is down for whatever will help him grow, while still remaining the same old G. "I just want to keep getting better and better."

For more from Snoop Dogg, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.