Snoop Lion: ‘In the rap world, I don’t know if being gay will ever be acceptable’
Rap star turned reggae artist Snoop Lion has said that, in the rap music industry, being gay may never be “acceptable” in the way it is for singers.
The 41-year-old star, formerly known as Snoop Dogg, made the comments in an interview with the Guardian, in which he referred back to an interview in August, when he said the world of Hip Hop was ready to accept a gay artist, following Frank Ocean’s recent announcement that he had been in love with a man.
In this weekend’s interview, Snoop said: “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.
“It’s like a football team,” he added. “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.”
He went on to say that he personally had no problem with gay people, and said that times had changed since he was growing up, when it was commonplace to assault gay people.
“I don’t have a problem with gay people. I got some gay homies. Yeah, for real. People who were gay used to get beat up. It was cool to beat up on gay people back then. But in the 90s and 2000s, gay is a way of life. Just regular people with jobs. Now they are accepted, not classified. They just went through the same things we went through as black,” he said.
Snoop Lion rebranded himself as a reggae artist, which he said he hopes will make him into a musical icon. He debuted a song this week featuring Miley Cyrus, Ashtrays and Heartbreaks, which will feature on his Reincarnated album.
In a recent interview with the Huffington Post Snoop Lion, formerly Snoop Dogg, said: ”People can do what they want and as they please.”