How Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart Went from Buddies to Business Partners Who Pitch Big Money Deals via Text (Exclusive)

Mixing business with friendship comes naturally to Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart.

Ever since they first met on Stewart’s cooking show in 2008, the two superstars have become an unlikely duo of friends and business partners, frequently appearing alongside one another for TV shows, commercials and more.

“Our relationship is like any other friend that I have. I like who you are, what you stand for, and I want to get to know you and hang out with you,” Snoop, 52, tells PEOPLE of his relationship to Stewart, 83, for a recent cover story interview. “It went from that to actually doing that, to she was willing to do the same things I was willing to do.”

After their “first few experiences of hanging out,” the Death Row Records owner and Stewart started putting their business minds together. “She presents an opportunity, we present it to a network and we make some things happen,” he says.

Their personal relationship often helps with the business side, as they’ve helped each other bypass road blocks on the way to various deals.

“It’s been numerous calls where she would call me and be like, ‘Snoop, I was trying to get you to do a deal with Skechers, but your people was in the middle. They didn’t want to do it.’ I’m like, ‘For real?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, you should fuck with them. Look at my shoes,'” recalls the rapper, who later inked a deal with the sneaker brand.

“On the flip side of that, I got the 19 Crimes wine deal, red wine, we popping off. Boom, boom, boom. ‘Hey Martha, what’s happening? You ain’t got no wine deal. You want to come on over here and play with us?'” adds Snoop, whose recommendation led to 19 Crimes’ Martha’s Chard, her white wine offering with the brand. “Now, they got our bottles back to back.”

Together, they’ve also hosted cooking shows and done a BIC lighter campaign together — “because she likes to light candles, and you know what I like to light,” says Snoop. “We willing to try things.”

Plus, she inspired him to write two cookbooks, From Crook to Cook and Goon with a Spoon, which he wouldn’t have otherwise done. “Man, I ain’t going to do no cookbook, Martha. I don’t do all that s—,” Snoop remembers telling Stewart before crafting the books, both New York Times bestsellers.

Stewart feels similarly appreciative of her friendship with Snoop, telling PEOPLE he’s “one of the most creative people I have ever worked with.”

The former Martha Stewart Show host adds of the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” performer, “He is curious, he is a great student, he is a phenomenal negotiator (he’s taught me a lot), he’s tough, and he is ultra sweet.”

“I love working with Snoop and hope I can continue to do so for a long, long time, as long as he keeps blowing smoke in my face,” she says.

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