Snoop Dogg and chinchillas

Last night at youth group, we spent some time with the kids playing contemporary hit songs and discussing the lyrics to them.  The kids have one favorite tune at the moment: Snoop Dogg's Drop it Like it's Hot, done in collaboration with Pharrell Williams. 

The beat is certainly compelling, and I admit I've always liked Snoop Dogg's smooth and seemingly effortless delivery.  On the other hand, the lyrics are typically offensive, and that's where we engaged the kids in some discussion.  Clearly, they like the bravado and the affectation; also clearly, they delight in how the lyrics offend their elders.  When I asked them whether they would like hip-hop as much if their parents began listening to it, almost all said "no", of course.  Perhaps that's the secret to driving teens crazy:  immediately appropriate whatever they think is edgy and dangerous and cool.

But there's one line in the aforementioned song that really offended me:

Killer wit the beat, I know killers in the street
Wit the steel that'll make you feel like Chinchilla in the heat

Excuse me?  What was that about chinchillas in the heat?  Or does he mean chinchillas in heat?

I don't even know enough to know how upset I ought to be. It's one thing to boast about violence and objectify and demean women, and quite another to drag innocent rodents into the mix.  Are chinchillas a regular feature in rap music? 

Comments

[anonymous]

Hugo,
I think you are too caught up with chinchillas. I rather have Snoopy Dog belittle a rodent than a human. Though, I think it's great that you show much concern for chinchillas!

No, chinchillas are not part of the rap culture. Seldom I hear of an artist rapping about Chinnies.

[Amanda]

I'm thinking he meant to say Chihuhua, but it didn't flow so he changed it up.

[La Lubu]

Psst! Hugo! I think (please cover Matilde's eyes), that he may have been referring to chinchilla coats.

[Amy]

I have a deep loathing of Snoop Dogg for what I feel are obvious reasons. A good friend of mine, however, loves him. "Drop it Like it's Hot" is her ring tone. When I told her I wasn't a big fan of rap (though I like much of the early rap and hip-hop that was political protest) she asked why and we got into a discussion about misogyny in rap music.

She echoed the words of some male rapper who had said the solution was just not to consider yourself in the "bitches and hoes" category if you didn't agree with what they said. That's similar to something I once heard Dr. Dre say, that the shit (his word) he talks about black women in his songs is just that.

Somehow for some people, that de-problematizes it. (That was a favorite non-word of one of my profs and it stuck for me.) The point is that talking about women that way and portraying them that way in videos sells. These men are making millions on the backsides of women they profess to respect and I refuse to believe that it does our society no harm, even if these guys can sleep at night.

[The Angry Clam]

Obviously you don't know about the 45th Street Chinchillas gang. They're hardcore. Just last week, they started a huge gang war between them and the Down Home Electrical Cords.

Keep an eye on Matilda- if she comes home one day with a shaved back and a bandana, you'll know that she's started getting in with a bad crowd.

[blackkoffeeblues]

Typcially I can't stand rap (okay, I'll admit it, I kind of like a couple things DMX does)...but you gotta give a guy some credit for being able to fit the word "chinchilla" into a song!

[zuzu]

I hear chinchillas make good eatin'.

[Michelle]

Tell your kiddos that they need to keep up with the times...that song has been out for months now! ;-)

I think La Lubu is right about the coats. Quite expensive, they are. It would fit in nicely with the hyper-materialistic side of rap/hip-hop culture.

[mythago]

the solution was just not to consider yourself in the "bitches and hoes" category if you didn't agree with what they said

How eerie. I've heard that argument from white racists, too--that black people shouldn't take umbrage about comments referring to "niggers," because of course not ALL black people are "niggers," just the ones who [fill in stereotype of lazy, no-good African-American here]; therefore it's oversensitive and PC to get offended at the use of the term because they weren't talking about YOU. Just *certain* people.

[Hugo]

I am reliably informed that Mr. Dogg has made other references to chinnies, and afraid La Lubu is right:

She got on Payless, me I got on gator shoes
I'm shopping for chinchillas, in the summer they cheaper

May the Lord turn his heart.

[V]

Chinchillas prefer cooler temperatures, so putting one in the heat would make it uncomfortable. He says later that he's "only here to twist you" so maybe he meant he wants to make you uncomfortable like the chinchilla (and with too much heat it'll die, so maybe there's more there.).

[mikeyo]

chinchillas in the in the heat,not chinchilla in heat. dumbass

[Jb]

what is a chinchilla?

[Hugo]

JB, click on the photo albums on the side of this blog; you'll see an extraordinarily beautiful creature whose softness is matched by her intelligence and generosity of spirit. And she is only one of millions of like creatures around the world.

[Tim]

The word “Chinchilla”, when used in hip hop, is referring to an article of clothing. Typically a coat. When Snoop says “like chinchilla in the heat” he is saying that wearing chinchilla in hot weather is very hot, and comparing something to the way it feels.. To make a chinchilla skin coat it takes anywhere from 100-120 chinchilla’s deaths. So Hugo, though chinchillas prefer cooler temperatures, when he is talking about putting them in the heat they would not know.

[CJ Bay Area]

The person named Hugo who posted on October 7th is right. In rap culture, the most famous fur coat is the chinchilla coat and it does take about 100 of them to be killed to make 1 coat. He is referring to a person wearing a chinchilla jacket in the summer time. I saw the videos at the website furisugly.com and I posted a link with this question where you can see 50 cent, Fat Joe, and Areatha Franklin wearing the chinchilla jackets. The video on that website shows a man killing them 1 by 1. Its very sad. I used to like snoop and others until I found this out.

[CJ Bay Area]

sorry i thought it would post the link if i put it in url. well here it is. http://furisugly.com/id75.html

[Ormond]

Chinchilla is a place in Australia. Trust me, thats a HOT place.
You don't wanna be there.

[Cash]

Dude, here's the deal chinchillas are very sensitive to heat and they can die of a heat stroke at a temperature barely over 75° F. So when he said "...with the steal that make you feel like chinchillas in the heat" he meant the killers make you feel like you're gonna die. DUH!!

[Cash]

Rappers don't think as much as you think they do about things. There doesn't always have to be some kind of hidden message.

[Cheryl]

that's the exact problem with hip hop nowadays...shit songs like "drop it like it's hot". Offensive and not educational at all...people should remember the run dmc days.

[Brock]

Snoop Dogg didn't even say that line.

[moncler sweden]

Very, very nicely done!