Singer Danny Boy was once in rap and R&B’s inner circle — a rising star at only fifteen years old at Dr. Dre’s and Suge Knight’s label, Death Row Records. His first single, “Slip N Slide,” was released in 1994, with Ginuwine singing the chorus, and 2Pac and Snoop Dogg appearing in the video. Later, he sang vocals on 2Pac songs like “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” and “Heaven Ain’t Hard 2 Find.”
Now the 38-year-old performer is opening up about a career spent mostly in the closet and his complicated frustration with the gay community and how he’s perceived.
In a YouTube interview with VLADTV, the father of three describes the turning point that kicked off his own personal acceptance:
“After I was divorced, I left our house and I slept in my car for about three weeks and washed up in L.A. Fitness…A guy that was pursuing me was really the only person to open the door that I felt comfortable with.
Once I met someone, I kept trying to go back and forth. I felt that that wasn’t cool, to be making a girl think I was into them or being into them and trying to be with guys at the same time.”
Addressing the rumors that fellow Death Row artists knew he was gay during Danny Boy’s time at the label, he said:
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“I dibbled and dabbled. But for that person to know — did you look at them funny? You should have, because you should have asked them, ‘How do you know?’ Cause I didn’t tell nobody. The only people that knew were the people I did stuff with, and anybody else that knew were people that did stuff too.”
He added that he was having relations with other artists at the time, but, “not on Death Row though, yuck. All of them was ugch.”
Danny Boy describes how the death of a lover pushed him out of the closet in 2013:
“We were talking — nobody knew we were talking, and while I was out on the road one weekend, he stopped communicating…That next morning I was snowed in and his phone rang while I was at the airport…and I asked with attitude, ‘What’s up?’ And it was a guy on the end, he said ‘Is this Danny Boy?…My brother killed himself…Anthony committed suicide last night.”
He posted a message about suicide on Facebook, referring to Anthony as “Toni” to maintain the illusion that he was with a girl.
Messages poured in to the effect of “Praying for you and her family.”
“About three or four days went by, and once I got back and saw him at the funeral home, is when I decided to go on Facebook, and I put his picture up.”
People were surprised that Danny knew two people who had committed suicide, and he corrected the story.
“I said ‘No, we were dating’…And man, what did I do that for? What did I do that for?…The messages that church people sent me probably killed me more than anything.”
The interview moves on to Danny’s relationship with his kids, in particular his two sons:
“My son doesn’t know. He’s eleven years old — that’s who I’m particularly worried about.”
Probed how he’d react if one of his sons approached him to tell him they were gay, he said:
“Wow. First off, if they’re mature enough to come to me to tell me who they are, I applaud that…If they were, I pray that they are able to experience the life that I experienced when it comes to being with a woman, or being married to a woman and having kids. I want them to experience that. Because it didn’t work for me, but I pray it would work for them. But if that’s who they are — they my boys.”
So does that mean he hopes his sons are straight? Well, yeah. But like most things, it’s not that simple.
“Just because of what comes with it. It’s not easy, it’s not accepted, especially in the black community. You can’t imagine the inboxes and threats I get over who I like…I fear for my kids, I don’t want to see my kids go through certain things.”
drewthemoviefan
This man is so self-hating and homophobic. Let’s hope he never has children.
Prinny
@drewthemoviefan: It states that he’s a father of three.Just because he doesn’t want his children to go through the same things he went through doesn’t make him self-hating or homphobic!
Oracle89
^ i dont see anything self hating or homophobic. He clearly haf issues coming to terms with it and factors in his life contributed to it. And he simply would rather his kids not go through the same hard ships and be “normal”, but would accept either way……. Dont let your pettiness blind you.
Brian
There is nothing wrong with a man who is interested in both guys and chicks. Danny Boy has every right to it.
The resentment felt by women towards men who can swing both ways is disgusting. It is an act of homophobia which forces such men into the “false gay” category. Gay men haven’t helped.
Brian
There is a lot of homophobia in black culture, that’s for sure. Black women are partly to blame – they fear the powerful sexuality of black men including the powerful bisexuality of black men.
Bauhaus
@Brian:
You’re always so insightful, Ms. Phyllis Schlafly.
bottom250
This made me cry so much. I am so sad for that there are so many communities that gay people are afraid to come out.
CCTR
Good for him for accepting his truth! I hope it leads to much happiness!
Da'Vi Perez
ð??
Stached1
@Brian: This guy is gay though, he’s not bisexual at all. But I have to wonder who else that’s a rap/hip hop singer is gay or bisexual but on the DL?
TampaZeke
@Prinny: Wait a minute, he said, “I pray that they are able to experience the life that I experienced when it comes to being with a woman, or being married to a woman and having kids. I want them to experience that.”
That’s a pretty strange way to say that he DOESN’T want his kids to go through what he did. He’s actually saying that he PRAYS that, if they’re gay, they DO go through what he did.
I think it actually does show a deep level of unhappiness and homophobia. No doubt that it’s a product of his life experience within the rap culture and the homophobia that he’s experienced in his community, but it’s internalized homophobia none-the-less.
Bob LaBlah
Love him or hate him, Suge Knight surrounded himself in total luxury. Being as young as he was and having the opportunity to have that type of lifestyle I don’t blame him for what he did. I would have shut up too and simply waited to come out if I felt it absolutely necessary to do so.
This is America. No one is really concerned about a queen with no money nor any viable chance of ever legally obtaining any. The important thing here is you love your kids and did not abandon them once it was all over. His story and his lifestyle are what makes this newsworthy. I also think this story is film worthy. Stay tuned. Suge Knight might beat the charge and realize that he might have a hit movie right in his back pocket. Times have changed a plenty since the late 1980’s.
Masc Pride
If I had sons, I’d hope for them to be straight too. Call me crazy, but I’d prefer my sons not have a 1 in 11 chance of contracting HIV. Good parents want their kids to have a shot at a BETTER life.
Invert
@Masc Pride: You should remove the “Pride” part of your username. You’re nothing of the sort.
DCguy
@Brian:
Will there ever be a post that Brian can’t use as an excuse to talk about his massive fear of women?
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@drewthemoviefan: Indeed. I love cowards who talk about their frustrations with the gay community.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
And, it’s not really good to give these people a platform. They do more harm than good. Just ignore them.
Idunno
I hope your sons are straight too. Gay life sucks. I hate being gay.
Masc Pride
@Invert: No, I’m not proud of this community’s absolutely embarrassing HIV/STI rates; you’re right about that. Didn’t even mention the sex and drug addiction or the depression and suicide rates. I would like my kids to experience something much happier. Most of our parents can sleep easy because they don’t know much about how this community works, and they picture gay life to be like a Will & Grace episode. It’s not like I couldn’t accept a gay son, but I’d probably be much more protective and even overbearing because I know exactly how things go.
Hermes
@Idunno: It may shock you to know that some of us who are gay have and have had very full and complete lives and are very happy with those lives. Gay life does not suck – what a given individual does with his own life may suck, but neither being gay nor “gay life” – which is not a monolith despite the suggestion, sucks.
Kangol
@Masc Pride: Did you ever think the problem isn’t GAY people, it’s homophobia and heteronormativity?
Like, don’t put all the blame on LGBTIQ but on the heterosexual (and self-loathing gay) people who create the conditions who oppress us and try to make our lives a living hell in big and small, which can lead to suicide, depression, drug addiction, and so forth?
And have you thought about how you’re essentially agreeing with our oppressors, the sign of a colonized mind?
Invert
@Kangol: thanks Kangol, saved me the effort of responding to this Debbie Downer.
CCTR
@TampaZeke: “He’s actually saying that he PRAYS that, if they’re gay, they DO go through what he did.”
That’s not what he meant.
The interviewer asked him to clarify and he basically said that he would rather his sons not be gay. He does state that his feelings are a product of his negative experiences.
Masc Pride
@Kangol: Thought about all of that. Still feel the same. Here’s why:
1. Adults are responsible for their own actions. Your mentality creates victims and empowers self-victimization, which really just sets things back even further.
2. 96 percent of the population identifies as heterosexual, and only a mere two percent of men identify as gay; did you ever stop to think that these problems aren’t going anywhere anytime soon?
It’s too heavy. If I had sons, I’d much rather that they wouldn’t have to suffer it.
Masc Pride
@Invert: Sometimes people confuse realists for pessimists. It’s a fine line, but it’s still a line.
Invert
@Masc Pride: no confusion- you’re just a “glass half empty” guy and you deal primarily with consensus reality. You appear to be a quite conservative values person- that’s certainly not an optimistic outlook.
Masc Pride
@Invert: Sometimes people confuse realists for pessimists. It’s a fine line, but it’s still a line.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@Masc Pride: If you’re not proud of it, do you try to do anything to prevent it? Do you volunteer at HIV resource centers? Promote safe-sex? Educate communities about HIV? Work as an HIV counselor? Anything like that?
Masc Pride
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: Hey Booey Fooey! I keep myself HIV negative, which seems to be something that a lot of guys who volunteer or work at centers can’t manage to do. Best way to fight a statistic is to not become one.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@Masc Pride: I believe you because based on your postings and the times you post, you seem to troll this site, homophobicly, all day long, every day. You’re all over this site. So, I can see how you’d stay negative. You don’t have time for sex.
Masc Pride
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: Whoa, so we’re going full bitch now? I know that’s all you really wanted to say from the start, so you calling someone else a troll is rather comical/hypocritical.
BTW “homophobicly” isn’t even a word, dumbass. Stick to “booey” and “fooey”. lol
Ksb1978
@Brian: I’m a black woman that dates both men and women. The black woman that raised me taught me to be open to everyone and I grew up with gay and transgender people in my home. My predominantly black family(with a lot of women) was and is very open minded to the gay and bisexual members of my family, including myself. The black church I grew up in welcomed it’s gay members including women. Spelman College, a historical black women’s college, has hosted various LGBT events. I’m sure you wouldn’t want people to assume all gay men are this or that, but you assume black women in general are homophobic. I could say all white people are homophobic based on all the white people I’ve seen in the news discriminating against LGBT people, but that would be wrong and bigoted; much like your comment.