In an interview with the Guardian, 41-year-old reggae artist Snoop Lion (formerly known as rap legend Snoop Dogg) dealt a major blow to the LGBT community this week, saying he’s not sure if being gay will “ever be acceptable” in the rap industry. A longtime ally and vocal supporter of LGBT rights, Snoop Dogg was one of the first to publicly support Frank Ocean‘s coming out, claiming the Hip-Hop game was ready to accept an openly gay artist.
Well, it looks like that isn’t the case anymore.
“Frank Ocean ain’t no rapper. He’s a singer. It’s acceptable in the singing world, but in the rap world I don’t know if it will ever be acceptable because rap is so masculine,” Snoop says. “You can’t be in a locker room full of motherfucking tough-ass dudes, then all of a sudden say, ‘Hey, man, I like you.’ You know, that’s going to be tough.”
It sounds like Snoop’s words are more an assessment of the current state of the industry rather than a personal attack against LGBT people. Still—if there’s anyone influential enough to start changing minds, it would be Snoop. “Now they [gay people] are accepted, not classified. They just went through the same things we went through as black,” he added.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Now is as good a time as any for an openly gay rapper to test the waters. Please, God, let it be Macklemore.
boring
Do people who listen to Macklemore tell themselves “Oh man, loving this is totally not going to embarrass me 6 months down the line,” or something because it’s TOTALLY going to embarrass you 6 months down the line.
Red Meat
Snoop Lion is right.
Look at white rappers in the black community. Now look at black people doing music outside of R&B/soul and rap, why does Beyonce/Rihanna sometimes get marginalized as R&B when they are in fact pop?
Look at black people today, are they really accepted by white society? Are they integrated? No.
LandStander
Yes, because everyone knows that the first thing a gay guy in a locker room (a rap locker room…lol?) will do is walk up to all the other dudes and go “I like you.”
Cee
That’s all good that Snoop so called supports LGBT, but talk is cheap.
Instead of being cynical about it he should scout for a quality gay rap artist and put him on his label. The fact that he’s sitting up there saying this $hit bothers me because he won’t do nothing about it. He sees a problem, identifies it, and does little to nothing to change it.
tdx3fan
@Red Meat: You mean like Eminem, who is quite easily the most mainstream selling rapper EVER!?! Seriously, stupidity and ignorance like this paint the scene with a very broad approach. It is normally those that stand out in an industry, for whatever reason that make the most money from it, and the fans are not the same fans they were 10 years ago.
@Cee: He is not supportive of gay rights. He is supportive of keeping his name in the media and making money. His “stance” on gay rights stirs controversy which creates publicity which helps him stay “relevant.”
RomanHans
I’m with LandStander and tdx3fan: Snoop sounds seriously homophobic here. Using his example, I’m pretty sure the rap world wouldn’t accept a HETEROSEXUAL. I mean, you can’t be in a room full of motherfucking tough-ass dudes, then go up to some chick and say, “Hey, I like you.” And the rap he’s talking about isn’t “masculine”: it’s violent, homophobic, misogynist, profoundly stupid and sad.
comus
Snoop was just on Bill Maher saying that “man and woman is what God intended.”
iBLOW
Snoop has zero brain cells with all the weed he has been smoking for the last 40 years, so what he said he probably won’t remember a week from now. And I don’t get where people are saying “there are no gay rappers”, there are I heard this one guy Rob.b’s mixtape and he’s gay, he may not be signed but who knows. And for all we know there might be some gay rappers that we just don’t know about.
Red Meat
@tdx3fan: Ignorant? The fact your brought Eminem into this is the epitome of ignorance. Late 80s and through the 90s, in a society where hip-hop and rap was mainstream and what kids were subjected to by peer-pressure in high school, Eminem comes into play and taps into the market so perfectly.
I am not talking about talent here and I am not saying this is the only reason he is famous. But Eminem’s major following is white, look at any of his large scale concerts and you will see how stupid it was to bring Eminem into this.
Eric Auerbach
@boring: Yeah … Macklemore is basically 2012’s Vanilla Ice.
Charli Girl
OH NO….HOW WILL I GO ON? Bahahahaha who SHIVS a git? Really rat music doesn’t approve of us?
I think I’ll stay home and cry….LMAO
Raquel Santiago
I guess for them its easier to be just Gay4pay.