Chapter 6, The Crib

"Oooo wee, shit!" Snoop whooped as we pulled up in front of a modern glass building. He sighed and leaned back in the seat. Readjusting his sunglasses and grinning.
"That's what I call a mother fuckin' car," he said. I laughed. We'd cruised through Beverly Hills, screeching the tires and revving the engines at all the rich snooty people. That'd been my idea. Snoop and I would've lit up some blunts, but we both agreed the car was too good for that. A cop had pulled us over at one point, but he and Snoop knew each other, so he did nothing.

"Is this your place?" I asked gesturing to the building. He nodded.
"Come on, let's check it out," he said jumping out of the car, slamming the door and then leading me to the front steps of the building. Theo was waiting for us inside the lobby.
"56 minutes boss."
"See, I told you we'd be an hour" sniffed Snoop. The lobby was a modern square room, with an empty white-marble desk, and some potted plants. The floor was marble too. There was an elevator at the centre of the back wall, with two staircases leading off to the sides. Snoop headed straight for the elevator.

"Just so you know Diz, there's only 8 floors. I own the whole 8th floor – it's a penthouse. There are fourteen other apartments, each at $1.2 million," whistled Snoop as he pulled out a key and put it into a lock next to the elevator doors.
"There are lots of security features: locks on the elevator, stairwells and all main doors. Easy to get out, almost impossible to get in," said Theo, bending down to whisper in my ear. I nodded.
"Always thinking of safety, huh?" I mused to Theo.
"Well, it is my job," he laughed, "The front doors are triple glazed glass and reinforced steel. You'd need a small bomb to get through there." I whistled, impressed. This was a hell of a lot of security.

The elevator was equally lavishly furnished. Spotless mirrors on each wall showed how different I looked: my hair was short, and I'd gotten really thin in the last few days. There were ornate gold carvings in the ceiling, although I'm sure not real. Snoop pressed the button for the 8th floor, and the doors slid shut. When they came together it was impossible to see where one door ended and the other began, the mirrors overlapping perfectly.
"Voice Authorisation please" said a robotic voice. I almost shat myself, but Theo and Snoop were perfectly calm.
"Snoop Dogg" said Snoop confidently.
"Welcome Mr Dogg" said the robotic voice.
"Voice authorisation" smirked Theo, "Means no-one can just steal your key. And makes sure you're going to the right floor."

I didn't even realise that we had moved until the elevator pinged for the eighth floor, and the doors slid open again. The lift came right up into Snoop's penthouse: and boy was it a penthouse. A huge open plan space lay out before me: there were leather sofas and chairs scattered on different levels of marble flooring, adorned with burgundy coloured rugs. There was a huge circular bar, made of what looked like a single piece of granite, and on the inside of the bar were dozens of different kinds of drinks. All the furniture was cutting edge and modern, from the glass tables which seemed to be suspended on air to the dozens of lights that spread across the walls. A line of roman style pillars separated the two halves of the room, each going from the floor to ceiling and I'd imagine were hand carved. In the centre of the room (well, rooms) was a pool. It was about waist deep, and had ornate mosaic tiles which depicted a battle between two gods. I knelt down and touched the perfectly still slate of the water, and watched as the ripples spread across the surface before it returned to being perfectly still. And finally, there were no outer walls. Or so it seemed. There were in fact floor-to-ceiling windows, each wall seemingly made of one seamless piece of glass. Beyond the glass was a balcony, and beyond that Los Angeles. The whole of Los Angeles… spread out before me, a living and breathing metropolis gleaming in the afternoon sun. There was no smog here; that was all further downtown. In a daze a ambled towards a glass door that led onto the balcony. For a moment I thought I'd walked into thin air and was just about ready to bring out my wings, before realising that the balcony too was made of glass. I closed my eyes and sighed, inhaling the city air.

"You like it man?" asked Snoop who had joined me on the balcony. I nodded, still coming to terms with the luxury of the place.
"Now if y'all need anything at all, you just ask Big Snoop Dogg here. He'll set you right." He ushered me back inside where I saw two guys with crates walking through the room, Theo directing them to the bar.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I'm havin' a party later. I'm real excited man: gonna be some girls here tonight," he chuckled.
"Am I invited?" I asked timidly: I hadn't had to ask for an invite since I was 12.
"Fo shizzle my dizzle. You my main man." He said, slapping my back hard.
"You up for that Diz?" I paused for a moment.
"Fo shizzle my dizzle," I mimicked. He laughed.