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Snoop Dogg‘s highly publicized interview with The Red Table Talk has finally been released. During the candid sit down, he admitted that the shock of losing Kobe Bryant less than a year after the murder of Nipsey Hussle may have contributed to his lashing out at Gayle King.
Earlier this month, the rapper issued an apology to King after she brought up Bryant’s 2003 rape case during an interview with Lisa Leslie. Now that cooler heads have prevailed, he’s taking time to reflect on what may have led to his public outburst.
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“It was a matter of me losing control because we still haven’t swallowed Nip … we still hurt behind that and then Kobe and his daughter,” Snoop said, referencing Hussle’s death in 2019. He then went on to list all the other personal tragedies that have also exacerbated his grief.
“I lost a grandson, a grandmother and then I gotta be strong in front of everybody,” he admitted before asking, “What about when I want to cry? What about when I’m hurt and I’m feeling bad and I feel disgusted and I want to be angry and I want to just blurt out, I can’t.”
“I let my emotions get the best of me, I was frustrated on top of just venting and doing it the wrong way,” he acknowledged.
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The proud Los Angeles native also touched on his friendship with the NBA superstar whose impact on the city is undeniable.
“Kobe was like the son and the brother to LA that we all needed and we all loved him for that. From the early 90’s to his last days of him playing basketball, we watched him grow into a father, a mentor, a leader,” Snoop said. “He was the kind of guy that was forgiving, he was the kind of guy that was apologetic so I had to take that on and say ‘let me put a little bit of him in me.'”
“When someone becomes a superhero – we don’t have a lot of them – but when someone becomes a superhero, it’s our job to protect that superhero,” Snoop said of his desire to make sure Bryant’s legacy is protected.
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But ultimately, his mother was able to make him see that the way he went about things wasn’t ideal, and that’s why he stepped up to issue an apology.
“When your mama can make you feel like a kid that’s when you gotta get right,” Snoop said. “She didn’t say I was wrong, she was just giving me: ‘You know I raised you better than that… You’re a representation of us, every woman that has ever crossed your life, you’re a representation of that.’ ”
Watch the full interview below.