From controversy to compassion, Snoop Dogg’s new children’s song champions LGBTQ inclusion

After elevating eyebrows earlier this 12 months over feedback a few same-sex kiss in a children’ film, Snoop Dogg is utilizing his platform to rewrite the narrative; this time, with love.

To have fun Spirit Day, an LGBTQ anti-bullying day, the rapper teamed up with GLAAD and singer Jeremy Beloate on a brand new animated observe and marketing campaign known as “Love Is Love.” The collaboration, a part of Snoop’s Doggyland kids’s franchise, celebrates inclusion, kindness, and the various varieties households take. 

“On the finish of the day, it’s all about love,” Snoop Dogg mentioned in an announcement, per Selection. “That’s what we’re teachin’ the children with ‘Love Is Love.’ Partnering with GLAAD for Spirit Day simply felt proper, as a result of spreading love and respect for everyone is what actual gangstas do. We’re showin’ the subsequent technology that kindness is cool, inclusion is highly effective, and love all the time wins.”

Simply months in the past, the rapper confronted backlash for expressing discomfort after watching Pixar’s Lightyear together with his grandchildren, notably over a scene that includes two girls elevating a baby and sharing a kiss. His feedback struck a nerve, reigniting conversations about how we speak to kids about queerness, and, extra importantly, how adults proceed to course of their very own biases. Now, Snoop seems to be assembly that dialog head-on.

In a particular Spirit Day video, Snoop and Beloate sat down to debate their new undertaking, bullying, and the significance of affection and acceptance. Past promotion, the video reveals a candid reflection on development.

“It’s a stupendous factor that children can have mother and father of all walks and be proven love, to be taught what love is,” Snoop mentioned. “Whether or not it’s two fathers, two moms, no matter it’s — love is the important thing.”

That message carries by means of in “Love Is Love,” a disco, funk-infused anthem from Snoop’s animated YouTube sequence, Doggyland. The video options Beloate voicing a pet named Zippy, alongside Snoop’s character Bow Wizzle and the remainder of the Doggyland crew, celebrating households of each configuration.

“Our mother and father are completely different / No two are the identical / However the one factor that’s for sure is the love received’t change,” the characters sing, as a number of same-sex {couples} seem on display. “Households are particular / They’re so distinctive / Everyone’s acquired a objective, greater than what you see / We love you, mother and father / We love you so.”

For Snoop, this undertaking appears like a reconciliation, not solely together with his earlier feedback but in addition with hip-hop’s lengthy historical past of difficult relationships with queerness. His partnership with GLAAD alerts a recognition that instances have modified and that those that helped outline the tradition are able to altering, too.

“This music is a stupendous bridge to carry an understanding,” Snoop mentioned. “Hopefully, we may help reply these questions and assist children dwell a contented life and perceive that love is love.”