New Music: Snoop Dogg feat. October London - 'What Is This?'

Snoop Dogg teams up with October London for his latest loose single, “What Is This?”

Over Nottz’ usually-bouncy production, Tha Doggfather unleashes controversial lyrics about the sexuality of unnamed R&B singers. “Internet going cray every day,” he raps. “R&B ni**as on memes ’cause they halfway gay / Hold down, slow down, Dogg, you a fool with it / I don’t know if these cats is goin’ be cool with it.”

After Snoop acknowledges that the lyrics may cause controversy, October London follows suit on the hook. “What is this?” he asks. “Rappers sounding the same / Just to get a little taste of the fame / What is this? R&B ni**as on the down low / Taking Ls, ni**a, what do you know?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttykr9jtwhQ

Although he has utilized gay slurs in his music, Snoop Dogg has also been a vocal supporter of gay marriage. “People can do what they want and as they please,” he told The Huffington Post in 2013. “Satisfy yourself accordingly. I have no issues with nobody, I live for me and I live my life doing what I do, so you should have the right to do whatever you want to do.”

However, he’s also said that homosexuality or bisexuality might never be accepted within hip-hop. “Frank Ocean ain’t no rapper,” he told The Guardian in 2013. “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. 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.”

During that same interview, Snoop insisted that he was not homophobic. “I don’t have a problem with gay people,” he said. “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.”