Well it’s not quite as undignified as Naomi Campbell having to work with the department of sanitation, but Snoop will be doing some community service too – and his will also involve a little toilet time. Snoop will be raking leaves, cleaning toilets, and picking up litter around Orange County parks for 20 days. Who knew the penalty for felonies was so light these days? And doesn’t Snoop have a wee bit of a prior record?

“Snoop Dogg will spend his 160 hours of community service cleaning up an Orange County park, after pleading guilty last month to a felony weapons charge. Snoop’s chores will include ‘raking leaves, washing cars, cleaning toilets (and) picking up litter,’ according to The Orange County Register. The name of the park was not released, in an attempt to keep fans at bay. It is also unclear when he will begin. Andre Manssourian, a deputy district attorney in Orange County, said he expects Snoop will do a fine job. ‘My understanding is that he chose this [work],’ he said. ‘I look forward to his hours of community service [to] help maintain Orange County and keep it beautiful.’

“Snoop’s attorney, Donald Etra, says his client wants to pay his debt and get on with things. ‘He will do whatever it takes,’ Etra said. ‘He will be making the park a better place for Orange County.’ Etra added that Snoop (real name: Calvin Broadus) does not see the work as menial. ‘Snoop has never pretended to be other than a man of the people,’ he said. The 35-year-old rap star was arrested in September 2006 while trying to board a plane with a 20-inch collapsible baton in a computer bag. Last month he pleaded guilty to felony possession of a deadly weapon.”

[From People]

I wonder if they went a little lighter on him because the deadly weapon wasn’t the scariest of deadly weapons. Although to be fair I’m pretty sure that’s my classification and not a legal standard. Snoop is just a bundle of contradictions. He does all these scary things and has been charged with murder and assorted high-level crimes and crazy drug use in the past, and yet he also has a great charity to get kids involved with sports instead of gangs, and annually hosts the “Snooperbowl” football game for kids. And just the name Snooperbowl makes me have a fondness for Snoop Dogg that I can’t explain.

Snoop’s lawyer makes it sound like he’s pretty down-to-earth about his community service. It’s hard to know if that’s true – a good lawyer can certainly make it sound that way – but it also doesn’t sound like he’ll be pulling a Michelle Rodriguez and bitching about every second he has to do something for someone else, either. Now that he’s the ripe old age of 36 (as of October 20th) maybe he’ll be ready to settle down, carry a few less concealed weapons, and get back to making music.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Snoop at the 2007 VH1 Hip Hop Honors on October 4th. Images thanks to PR Photos.