The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2021 - Issue 30

bitemusicceleb rose to prominence with her single ‘Mooo!’, which became a viral success on YouTube. Since then, the artist has had successes and failures, with many of her woes the result of her doing. She received backlash for using an anti-gay slur, has had several songs become viral on TikTok Trends and contracted Covid-19 after mocking the virus. A frequent user of public chat rooms, the artist tried to ad- dress her allegedly racist songs from the past and criticism about her self-hatred issues rooted in her naturally curly hair. In a video that surfaced online, she complained about maintaining her locks. “It’s frustrating for me. It’s very hard for me,” she confessed. “A lot of my friends who have hair like mine would agree that they have a hard time tak- ing care of it.” She then admitted she shouldn’t have said it on a social platform but stresses she doesn’t hate her hair. Her 2015 track ‘Dindu Nuffin’ came under fire as a racial slur that distorts the phrase ‘didn’t do nothing’ used to ridicule unarmed Black people who fall victim to police brutality. It was claimed her song specifically mocked the death of Sandra Bland who died in police custody after be- ing arrested during a traffic stop. ‘As for the old song that’s resurfaced, it was in no way tied to anything outside of my personal experience. It was written in response to people who often used that term to hurt me,” she explained. “I’m not on Twitter. Seeing people come for me, seeing people come for my character - just like any of you guys - wouldn’t feel good for me. So I avoid social media,” she added. She made it known that connecting her ‘Dindu Nuffin’ song to an innocent Black woman’s death was one of the most awful rumours she had ever encountered. “I don’t see in any way how that’s ok to push and create a story like that around this song.” She then addressed the self-hatred accusations, “I love my skin colour. I think I’m beautiful.” The rapper also shot down accusations that she is an- ti-Black. “I’m a Black woman,” she wrote in a written state- ment about the controversial song. “Half of my family is Black from South Africa and I’m very proud of where I come from.” Her father is South African actor Dumisani Dlamini who starred in the 1992 movie Safarina with Whoopi Goldberg. It’s been revealed that Doja Cat pre- viously said in a conversation with Whoopi that she had never met her father. Fans have speculated on the rapper’s love life in the last few years. In 2019, Doja Cat dated indie artist Johnny Utah whom she met during an Instagram Live session. She noted that she didn’t like his song but loved the way he moved in his video. However, the relationship didn’t last and the couple broke up in February 2020, which the rap-