Rapper Snoop Dogg surprised fans and reporters alike this weekend by revealing he has joined the Nation of Islam. Speaking at the religious group's Saviours' Day convention in Chicago, the 37-year-old praised the group's supreme minister and national representative Louis Farrakhan. It is reported by the Associated Press that he also made a donation to the group of $1,000.

Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin Broadus, talked about his reasons for joining the religious group in relatively loose terms. "I'm an advocate for peace. I've been in the peace movement ever since I've been making music," he told followers. "My whole thing is not about really trying to push my thing on you. It's just about the way I live, and I live how I'm supposed to live as far as doing what's right and representing what's right. That's why I was here today."

The Nation of Islam was founded in 1930 with the aim of promoting the conditions of black Americans. The group's most famous convert is activist Malcolm X.

Snoop Dogg's career has spanned nearly two decades and has been as controversial as it has been successful. He has been arrested numerous times, mainly for possession of marijuana, and was charged as an accomplice to the murder of Phillip Woldermarian in 1993. The rapper was found not guilty.

He sought to reinvent himself as a family man with the recent reality show Snoop Dogg's Father Hood, which portrays his domestic side along with his wife and three children. However, he was prevented from entering the UK in 2007 following a previous violent incident at Heathrow airport.

Discussing his religious beliefs at this weekend's Nation of Islam event, the Doggystyle rapper referred to himself as the "leader of the hip-hop community" and hinted that his affiliation with the group is not new. "It's about seeing yourself and what you can do to better the situation," Broadus said. "We're doing a lot of wrongs among ourselves that need correcting."