For years, Michael Archer II kept his parents’ names out of conversations he didn’t have to have. Now, for his first feature film, he’ll be answering to a different name altogether — Biggie Smalls.
Universal Pictures has cast Archer, who performs as SwayvoTwain, as The Notorious B.I.G. in Snoop, the studio’s upcoming biopic about Snoop Dogg. The film is due out August 6, 2027, and for an artist whose music has mostly stayed outside the mainstream, the role is a considerable jump.
There’s also no easy comparison to lean on. Jamal Woolard already played Biggie twice — in 2009’s Notorious and again in 2017’s All Eyez on Me — and Biggie’s voice, his mannerisms, the way he carried himself onstage, are still familiar to people who never once saw him perform live. Whatever SwayvoTwain does with the role, it can’t just be an impression.
Craig Brewer, who directed Hustle & Flow and Dolemite Is My Name, is behind the camera. Joe Robert Cole, who co-wrote Black Panther, wrote the script. Snoop Dogg and Death Row Pictures president Sara Ramaker are among the producers.
Jonathan Daviss plays Snoop Dogg. Myles Bullock is Dr. Dre, Camron Jones is Tupac Shakur, and Tre Hale is Suge Knight. Pitchfork and People both report that Snoop is the first theatrical project to come out of Death Row Pictures’ new partnership with NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios.
Compared to the size of the role, SwayvoTwain doesn’t have much acting experience — this will be his first film, period. But carrying a name that walks into the room before he does is nothing new to him.
The Son of Two Artists Who Didn’t Want the Introduction
SwayvoTwain is the only son of D’Angelo and Angie Stone, two of the most respected names in neo-soul and R&B. That background made him instantly interesting to music audiences, even though his own childhood looked nothing like the version people probably imagine.
He grew up mostly with his grandparents in Columbia, South Carolina, while his parents were on the road. In an interview with The Progress Report, he said he simply didn’t tell classmates who his parents were — being labeled a “celebrity kid” came loaded with assumptions about money and access that didn’t match how he actually lived.
Music, at first, just felt like one more comparison waiting to happen. Both of his parents had heavy catalogues behind them. D’Angelo’s long gaps between albums only made people pay closer attention to whatever came next. Angie Stone’s career stretched all the way back to the pioneering rap group The Sequence, through a long run of acclaimed solo R&B records. Their son could put out a song, sure, but he had no say over which two artists people would think of first.
So he tried to put some distance between himself and that. Performing as SwayvoTwain, he released Articles of SwayvoTwain, Vol. 1 in 2018, appeared on BET’s The Next Big Thing, and opened for his mother on a European tour. His music slides between singing and rapping, and he plays guitar and piano too. Over time the catalogue grew to include “Fuego,” “S.D.M.,” “Ms. Angie’s Son,” “DoveSoar,” and “HookahSmoke.” According to his Apple Music bio, “Fuego” has passed a million streams on SoundCloud.
None of that had translated into wide recognition yet. When his Spotify artist page was last indexed, it showed 242 monthly listeners — a number that shifts constantly and doesn’t tell the whole story of an artist’s reach, but it’s still a useful reality check. The man just cast in a Universal film about some of rap’s biggest names was, until recently, still mostly undiscovered as a recording artist himself.
What SwayvoTwain Did Differently
The casting wasn’t some sudden reinvention. Before Hollywood came calling, SwayvoTwain had already started handling his family history differently than he used to.
He Stopped Hiding the Connection
Keeping his parents’ identities quiet might have protected some of his childhood, but once he started releasing music professionally, that privacy wasn’t really an option anymore. Fans figured it out on their own. Eventually he started talking about it too. “I can’t run from it, so I might as well embrace it.”
On social media he’s called his lineage a “superpower” — a real shift from how he used to talk about it, back when the attention felt more like pressure he hadn’t earned. He can hold both of those things at once: the advantage, and the weight that comes with it.
His version of events doesn’t fit the usual celebrity-kid narrative. He was close to two major careers growing up, but shut out of a lot of what people assume comes with that.
He Put the Family Story Inside the Music
You can hear the shift in the songs themselves. “Ms. Angie’s Son” is direct about his relationship with his mother. “S.D.M.” samples D’Angelo. “DoveSoar” sits with the loss of both his parents rather than skirting around it.
Angie Stone died in a car crash in March 2025. D’Angelo died of cancer seven months later. Afterward, SwayvoTwain talked about leaning on therapy, prayer, and recording to get through it. The Associated Press covered Stone’s death; SwayvoTwain later spoke about that period, and about performing a Grammy tribute, on a podcast. “If I ain’t creating, man, I’m losing.”
He told The Breakfast Club that, according to REVOLT. “DoveSoar” catches him working through grief in public — putting a connection he once protected right at the center of a record instead of avoiding it.
He Left Room for More than One Sound
His parents are tied to R&B and neo-soul, but SwayvoTwain hasn’t picked a single lane for his own music. He sings, he raps, and a song can move from grief to a night out without much warning.
I wouldn’t really put [it] in a genre, but I do make songs that give you a feeling. Whether it’s good, bad, or makes you reflect, the goal is just to make you feel SOMETHING. If you do that, then my job is done. — SwayvoTwain,
That’s what he told REVOLT about his approach. It tracks — “DoveSoar” and “HookahSmoke” barely sound like they belong to the same artist.
Playing Biggie pushes that instinct somewhere new. Acting puts him in front of people who know his parents but have never heard a single one of his songs — and it puts his work under a spotlight before he’s had time to build toward it gradually.
The People and Records that Brought Him Here
Touring Europe with his mother gave SwayvoTwain one of his first real stages, and he’s called it a career highlight. Most nights, he was performing for people who hadn’t bought a ticket to see him specifically.
D’Angelo’s presence shows up more directly on record. Sampling him on “S.D.M.” was always going to invite comparisons, but it also meant SwayvoTwain was choosing to set the terms of that comparison himself, rather than pretending his musical background could be kept separate from his work.
The cast and crew of Snoop put him in a much bigger world than he’s used to. Brewer has directed plenty of performance-heavy films. Snoop Dogg is producing a story about his own life. Universal will take the finished product to audiences well beyond hip-hop. What happens after that depends on the performance itself — and on whether another opportunity comes along before people stop paying attention.
The Part after the Casting Announcement
Right now, SwayvoTwain is still better known for who his parents were than for what he’s released. Even the casting announcement reflects that — most headlines call him D’Angelo’s son first and give his stage name second. He mentioned;
I just want everybody to give me a fair shake as an artist. I’m not a charity case. – SwayvoTwain
That’s going to get harder once the film comes out, not easier. Some viewers will see D’Angelo and Angie Stone’s son. Others will hold him up against Woolard, or against actual footage of Biggie. A lot of people will meet him for the first time while he’s playing somebody else entirely.
It’s a strange way to introduce yourself. What comes of it depends on details that aren’t public yet — how big the role actually is, which years of Biggie’s life the script covers, how much space SwayvoTwain gets to make the character feel like a person rather than a reenactment.
He spent years objecting to an identity other people had written for him. His biggest opportunity has arrived with another identity already written, remembered, and fiercely protected by its audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is SwayvoTwain?
SwayvoTwain is the stage name of Michael Archer II, a singer, rapper, musician, and actor from Columbia, South Carolina. He’s the only son of the late R&B artists D’Angelo and Angie Stone.
Who will SwayvoTwain play in the Snoop Dogg movie?
He’ll play The Notorious B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls, in Universal Pictures’ upcoming Snoop Dogg biopic, Snoop.
Is this SwayvoTwain’s first film role?
Yes — Snoop is expected to be his feature film debut.
When does the Snoop Dogg biopic come out?
Universal has set the release for August 6, 2027.
What music has SwayvoTwain released?
His releases include Articles of SwayvoTwain, Vol. 1 and the songs “Fuego,” “S.D.M.,” “Ms. Angie’s Son,” “DoveSoar,” “Sho’ Is,” and “HookahSmoke.”
Is SwayvoTwain an R&B singer or a rapper?
Both, more or less — he works across R&B, soul, and hip-hop, and has said he’s less interested in sticking to one genre than in making people feel something.
