Snoop Dogg got a serious surprise last week when Raising Cane’s CEO Todd Graves gave him the nunchucks that Bruce Lee used in his movie Enter the Dragon. Snoop joined Graves at the company’s “CaneCún 2024” business conference on Monday, Sept. 23 where they talked about leadership, community service and the pursuit of greatness. At the end, they bonded over a shared idol – Bruce Lee.
Graves – a collector of all kinds of rarities – presented the nunchucks to Snoop Dogg as a gift at the end of their 20-minute talk. They screened the iconic scene where Lee disarms an opponent and demonstrates his skills with the nunchaku, and as it played Snoop mimicked the movements, as mesmerized by the screen as the first time he saw it. Afterward, event staff brought out the nunchucks and the accompanying Escrima sticks from the scene, both in verified display cases.
“Get the f- out of here!” Snoop said when he saw the props coming his way. He even got down on his knees and bowed reverently to the weapons as Graves continued talking.
“So, you pick one, and we’re going to have one at our offices, and we’ll know that you have one and we have one,” he said. Without a word, Snoop picked up the nunchucks and held them triumphantly. Graves picked up the other weapons and the two posed for a photo op.
Snoop was still miming the nunchuck movies as he headed off stage, and he would go on to perform a 90-minute set for the Raising Cane’s employees later that night. However, as much as Snoop seemed to want to handle the nunchucks himself, they weren’t seen again for the rest of the event.
Enter the Dragon was released in 1973, and was Lee’s last film appearance before his death that same year. It is considered by many to be the most iconic movie in the martial arts action craze of the 1970s, which also had a heavy influence on early hip-hop culture. Snoop reflected on his career from the early 1990s to the modern day at CaneCún, including his upcoming album Missionary.
Snoop has worked with Raising Cane’s on marketing projects before, as well as charitable efforts including his Snoop Youth Football League. Here, however, he and Graves emphasized that they are friends outside of business as well. The 54-year-old rapper said: “Todd is a great man and great person who always inspires me to do more and I’m so thankful for our partnership. Cane’s has so many great programs to help people grow and it’s important to highlight that.”