““living on the down low” is different than “keeping it on the down low”...
two different meanings...”
You may well be right; I’m no expert on black slang.
I looked it up on the urban dictionary because I heard Rush refer to Bo Snerdley’s reference to that site. Don’t know if it is accurate or not.
By the way, the urban dictionary has an entry for “keep it on the downlow”:
“In the closet; hiding the fact that you’re gay”
“Bob was afraid he would get caught kissing George, so they had to keep it on the downlow.”
“#downlow#gay#hiding”
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=keep+it+on+the+downlow
i was raised in prince georges county maryland and was a tow truck operator/repo man in washington dc and surrounding area for ten years...
i know street slang first hand...
keep digging deeper in your search besides the urban dictionary...