Snoop Dogg has claimed Dionne Warwick “out-gangstered” him early in his career. The rapper made the statement in the documentary Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, which celebrates the iconic singer’s career.
In the film, Warwick points the finger at the misogyny that seemed to have become so prevalent in hip-hop throughout the 1990s. She said (via CNN): “These kids are expressing themselves, which they’re entitled to do. However, there’s a way to do it.”
Snoop Dogg had been invited to Warwick’s house and revealed, “We were kind of scared and shook up. We’re powerful right now, but she’s been powerful forever. Thirty-some years in the game, in the big home with a lot of money and success.”
At one point, Warwick asked Snoop, along with some other rappers in attendance, to call her a “bitch”, seeing as they frequently use the word in their songs. She recalled, “You guys are all going to grow up. You’re going to have families. You’re going to have children. You’re going to have little girls, and one day that little girl is going to look at you and say, ‘Daddy, did you really say that? Is that really you?’ What are you going to say?”
Snoop was in shock at the realisation of how “gangster” Warwick really was. “She was checking me at a time when I thought we couldn’t be checked,” he said. “We were the most gangsta you could be, but that day at Dionne Warwick’s house, I believe we got out-gangstered.”
The rapper then explained that following the meeting, he made it his mission to “put records of joy – me uplifting everybody, nobody dying and everybody living.” He added, “Dionne, I hope I became the jewel that you saw when I was the little, dirty rock that was in your house. I hope I’m making you proud.”
