Gangster rapper Snoop Dogg says a conversation with singer Dionne Warwick changed his perspective on language in rap. In a documentary about Warwick’s career, the rapper recalls a crucial meeting.
Snoop Dogg says, “We [Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight und andere Death-Row-Rapper] were powerful right now, but she has always been powerful. She was there for over 30 years, had this big house, all the money and success.”
Warwick summoned the rappers to this house at 7 a.m. sharp one day in the mid-90s to confront them. It was about misogynistic language. She asked them to say to her face what they called women in their songs. She also said that one day rappers would grow up too, fathers of daughters, and then look back with shame. Snoop Dogg says he was deeply impressed by the conversation, especially by Warwick’s attitude.
“She caught us off guard at a time when we thought we weren’t a match for anyone.” He credits Dionne Warwick with changing the way he approaches music. He wrote his next album THA DOGGFATHER with a different mindset. Warwick called misogyny by its name and was successful at it. The singer has since been dubbed the unofficial queen of Twitter. Her approach is the same as in the conversation with the rappers. In an interview, she justified joining the platform by saying that she wanted to do something about the omnipresent nonsense.
The documentary Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over premiered at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival. CNN re-aired it on January 1, 2023. Warwick is 82 years old today.