Has the king of hip-hop really been invited to the Prince's party?

Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton in April will be a carefully choreographed occasion, steeped in tradition, and watched proudly by an expectant nation. But his engagement party will, by all accounts, be quite the opposite.

The gangster rapper Snoop Dogg appeared to endorse extravagant tabloid rumours that he'd been asked to perform at the forthcoming event yesterday, using his website and Twitter feed to inform fans that he'd dedicated his latest single, "Wet", to the future groom.

In comments that were neither confirmed nor denied by St James's Palace, the performer, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, said he was happy to compromise his streetwise profile by crossing the Atlantic to entertain guests at the bash, which is expected to be organised by the mooted best man, Prince Harry.

"When I heard that the Royal Family wanted to have me perform in celebration of Prince William's marriage, I knew I had to give them a little something," read a statement on the "Doggfather's" website. "'Wet' is the perfect anthem for Prince William or any playa to get the club smokin'."

It wasn't entirely clear, however, whether the veteran rapper, 39, was responding to a formal royal invitation, or merely reacting to reports in the Daily Mirror last month, which claimed he had been approached by Prince Harry to perform along with British hip-hop artist, Tinie Tempah.

A spokesperson for the Princes said: "As Snoop Dogg has stated on his Twitter page, he has written a song for Prince William's engagement party. With regard to that, and that party, and the details of that party, it's too early for us to know more at this stage."

Unlike the royal wedding, which will be a public holiday, any engagement or stag party will be "an entirely private occasion", the aide added.

If Snoop Dogg does perform, a veil of privacy may be just as well. His lyrics are colourful enough to ensure that most of the albums in his back catalogue come with "parental advisory" notices. The single "Wet" is no exception – a sequel to the rapper's 2008 hit "Sexual eruption", it contains several passages that verge on the pornographic.

Though the Princes are known to be fans of hip-hop, and have somewhat more exotic recreational tastes than their father, who spent his stag night with a group of aristocratic chums in a private suite at the gentlemen's club, White's, even they may blanch at associating themselves with a man who boasts Snoop Dogg's criminal profile.

The rapper was brought up on the mean streets of Long Beach, an unlovely suburb of Los Angeles, and as a teenager was associated with the Crips street gang. He served six months in prison for cocaine trafficking after leaving school. He was charged, but then acquitted, of a gangland murder in 1993, convicted of illegal firearm possession in 1997, and has several convictions for marijuana possession.