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Snoop doesn’t regret sexist lyrics, but now recognises that women are people

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 27 May 2015

Snoop Dogg has decided, in his maturing years, that referring to women as “bitches” and “whores” in his lyrics is not something he should be doing. Though he doesn’t regret doing so earlier in his career.

Speaking to Sky News, the rapper said that people shouldn’t read too much into anything he says as Snoop Dogg, adding that he had a whole different identify for delivering a more responsible message: “Snoop Lion was more about a reggae experience, to be politically correct, to put a message out, to make music with substance, and that had awareness. Snoop Dogg was going back to being fun, making records that make people party, [that] takes you on a journey of… music. No message intended”.

But things have changed in the world of Snoop Dogg too since his 1993 debut album, and that’s influenced his lyrics: “What’s changed for me is I have a family, I have different perspectives and views on life, I have more concern with life. 20 years ago I had no responsibilities, I was young, I was an ex-gang member that was still affiliated with gangs. I was hard headed, I didn’t listen. I had nothing to live for but me”.

“I have no regrets”, he added, asked about the content of his early lyrics. “I love the makings of Snoop Dogg. I fucking love every minute of it, it’s the best shit ever”.

But he wouldn’t write those lyrics now: “Definitely my attitude has changed towards women. I’m more sensitive and I’m more vulnerable, as far as writing-wise and accepting a woman for being a beautiful person as opposed to me saying she’s a ‘bitch’ or a ‘whore'”.

“That’s how I was trained as I first started”, he continued. “And as I grew and fell in love with my wife and started to love my mother and my grandmother and my daughter, I understood what a woman was and I started to write that and express that. So, I have not regrets because I didn’t have that in my life, but when I got that in my life, as to better myself, I began to write that and I began to live a better life”.

“I’m not disappointed [in the younger Snoop] at all, because he who doesn’t know, it’s his job to learn to better himself”, he concluded. “Once I figured out that there was room to grow and learn and to be a better person, then I incorporated that into everything that I’m doing, and I don’t feel like you can be ashamed or mad about not knowing. Like, if you didn’t know, you didn’t know”.

And now he does know, maybe he should write a children’s book. Anyway, here’s an example of the sort of thing Snoop used to say about women in his youth, on ‘I Don’t Need No Bitch’ way back when in 2011…