You're late Snoop: Rapper says his attitude has changed towards women

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File this under “Better Late Than Never.”

Snoop Dogg (who sometimes makes Rasta-inspired music under the name Snoop Lion) has vowed not to call women b*tches and h*es and other derogatory terms.

In an interview with Sky News, the Long Beach, CA, rapper known for his laid-back lyrical delivery described his evolution as an artist and why he has decided to stop using misogynistic language to describe women.

“My attitude has changed towards women,” Snoop said. “I am more sensitive and more vulnerable writing-wise and accepting a woman for being a beautiful person, as opposed to me saying she is a b*tch or a wh*re because that was how I was trained when I first started. As I grew, I fell in love with my wife and started to love my mother, my grandmother and my daughter. I understood what a woman was and I started to write about and express that.”

Indeed, most of the rapper’s official singles from the past four years or so have been devoid of the crass names he used often in his earlier work. In fact, his latest single, “California Roll,” featuring Stevie Wonder and Pharrell, is almost mushy by Snoop’s standards.

Still, this is a 43-year-old married father. Did it really take four decades to figure out that “b*tches ain’t sh*t but h*es and tr*cks” might not be the best way to refer to women? According to Snoop, yes.

“I have no regrets because I didn’t have that in my life,” Snoop said. “But when I got that in my life, to better myself, I began to write that and I began to live a better life…Once I figured out there was room to grow and learn and to be a better person then I incorporated that in everything I was doing. I don’t feel like you can be ashamed or mad about not knowing — if you don’t know, you don’t know.”

There is a bit of logic in his statement. How can someone be expected to do better if that person doesn’t know better? The problem is willful ignorance.

There is no way that, for decades, Snoop was unaware that women are worthy of respect and should be referred to in ways that reflect that respect. He’s had women in his family his entire life, and he’s known his wife of 18 years since high school. He likes to put on the persona and mannerisms of a pimp in his performances, but his real life interaction with women has gone far beyond “women of the night” and groupies. (By the way, sex workers and women who like to have sex with celebrities are worthy of respect too.)

It is great that Snoop has matured in his music and his mindset. He’s come a long way from a decade ago when he complained that the Girls Gone Wild franchise, which featured raunchy videos of topless women, was biased because there were no women of color and “white girls ain’t the only h*es that get wild.” Thanks, but no thanks for that black woman shout out, Snoop.

While evolution is a beautiful sight to behold, there are still no accolades to be given for being a decent human being. Not degrading 51 percent of the population is a fairly easy task. It’s good that I took a shower this morning, but nobody is clapping me on the back for that.

Hopefully, more entertainers will take Snoop’s lead and make a conscious effort to make respectful creative choices in their public and private lives.