News : Snoop Dogg Reveals 2Pac ‘Helped Raise’ Son Corde: ‘[He] Was A Better Dad Than Me’

Snoop Dogg has revealed that 2Pac used to help the Doggfather raise his first-born son Corde before the Hip Hop icon was killed in September of 1996.

Talking to PEOPLE for a new cover story, Snoop recalled their time in the mid-1990s.

“I was working on [my 1996 album] Tha Doggfather,” Snoop said. “So when [Corde] was old enough able to pee and all that other shit, I started taking him to the studio with me. … So I’m raising him around all of the homies.”

He continued: “Tupac loved him. It’s like his nephew. Tupac was a better dad than me,” Snoop remembers. “We’ve been up here [in the recording studio for] three hours and we ain’t got him nothing to eat. It’s like I’m up here rapping and shit, I’m not being a father. [He was] training me.”

Back in July, Snoop paid tribute to 2Pac with his newly-opened weed dispensary in his hometown of Los Angeles.

Called S.W.E.D., which is an acronym for Smoke Weed Every Day — a reference to Nate Dogg‘s final line on Dr. Dre‘s “The Next Episode” — the fully licensed dispensary opened its doors with Snoop’s help over the weekend.

Through a limited edition release, Tha Doggfather is paying tribute to his late friend and collaborator by featuring 2Pac on a number of his Death Row Cannabis products.

The line features a premium blend of jarred cannabis flower and Alien OG, with customers also receiving an exclusive never-before-seen photo of the “Dear Mama” legend, as well as a matchbook recreated from the photoshoot.

Snoop Dogg previously revealed that 2Pac handed him his first blunt in 1993 at the wrap party for the film Poetic Justice, which starred ‘Pac alongside Janet Jackson.

“2Pac is the one who got Snoop Dogg smoking blunts,” he said, referring to himself in the third person, while inducting the late rapper into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Snoop also recalled that moment in a statement launching the 2Pac weed products: “That first blunt sparked a friendship that ran deep. We’ll always have his music, but this is another way I can bring what was meaningful to 2Pac to his fans.”

Snoop’s S.W.E.D. shop also offers fans the chance to see a Death Row electric chair, graffiti on the walls and various bits of music memorabilia including a section dedicated to his seminal album Doggystyle.