Snow might be one of the best examples of the phrase don’t judge a book by its cover. At first glance, Snow and his admittedly catchy single Informer seemed like nothing more than a shameless cash grab designed to bilk suburban Hip hop and reggae fans in the 90s. And, yeah, that’s still true, but it turns out that, despite his dorky appearance, Snow was actually living his lyrics.
One of the biggest critiques levied at white rappers from the 90s centered around the legitimacy of their implied street cred. While being authentically “street” is less of a factor than ever for modern white rappers, it was practically a necessity for caucasian emcees in the 90s. Vanilla Ice’s entire career got torched when the truth about his middle-class upbringing came to light. When the public laid eyes on Snow, he instantly became a source of mockery both in and outside of Hip hop culture. Well, as it turns out, Snow was actually a criminal with two attempted murder charges under his belt.
In the video linked above, Snow sits down with VladTV to discuss how he based the lyrics from Informer on his real-life experience. In the complete interview, Snow even mentions that the first time he saw the video for Informer was in prison.