Preface By Trent Clark
When an artist puts out product, the overall goal is for it to be enjoyed by all (especially to stay gainfully employed as a working musician). But in the world of Hip Hop music, some content may be targeted to speak to a particular audience and anyone who has to overthink to absorb the material, could be considered an outsider or even worse: a poser.
This week, we’ve seen prime examples where White people were being accused of getting a little too comfortable when shrouded in a Hip Hop environment. Barry Bonds got distracted from his Miami Marlins gig to play PSA for his daughter’s PTA, after a video from her high school went viral with rich kids chanting A$AP Ferg’s popular cut, “Dump, Dump.” (“I fucked your bitch, nigga, I fucked your bitch, She suck my dick, nigga, she suck my dick” was the choral response.) Halfway across the world, Woody Allen apologist Blake Lively borrowed a choice quote from the unofficial Becky national anthem, Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” which in turn, caused her to become the subject of social media think piece blurbs.
HipHopDX contributors Jason Bisnoff and Marcel Williams recently sat down together and had a candid discussion that gives a first hand account of their own personal experiences and how it aligns with their Hip Hop expertise to discuss on the matters even further.
Is It Actually Racist To Rap The Word “Nigga?”
Marcel Williams: Imagine being a black man in a society that has seemed hell bent on denying your very existence. You live in a country where Jim Crow, official laws making it illegal to be you, was just a mere 50 years ago. My mom is just 58 years of age for reference on just how short a time frame that is. The oppressors of your people created a word to describe you that would last for hundreds of years, eventually becoming the most offensive and vile word in the English language.
You as a people survive and adapt, though. You take that word, nigger, and you make it your own. For better or worse, “nigga” becomes a term of endearment for a lot of African Americans in a defiant, yet fitting, cultural appropriation of a term meant to hurt you.
Now imagine the descendants of those who made your very existence in America unbearable are fighting for their right to use a word their ancestors used to bring us harm. A cultural re-appropriation of sorts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3vPz6mM9rs
Brentwood School students mouthing off to A$AP Ferg’s raunchiest record.
Jason Bisnoff: First of all, yes, it is racist. Secondly, no, you shouldn’t rap it my fellow Caucasians. That being said this should also go for any culture that is not African American. As a New Yorker I have heard all different types of creeds and cultures who would have not been denigrated with the original “ER” form using the “A” at the end as if growing up around African Americans makes you one through osmosis.
When reading what that word can mean to Marcel, or anyone who has dealt with the marginalization of being African American, it illustrates the point that this word was taken back by an oppressed people and even celebrated in a culture like Hip Hop grown in those same communities. It is their exclusive right to use that word in any and all instances.
However, rap that uses the “N” word gratuitously or as a crutch is not a part of fixing the polarizing nature of this word. Too often weak rappers throw the word in without care even demeaning the power of it as a word that was taken back by the very people for whom it was once a punishment. We would all be better off within the culture if the reverence that a Kanye West or Biggie have for the word, using it for power not gratuitously. I would also be curious to know what Marcel thinks about a Puerto Rican rapper (Big Pun) having a song called “Ni**a Shit.”
MW: I’m actually glad you mentioned Big Pun and other minority races using the word. It’s a gray line not often discussed. The conversation seems to be primarily focused on that of white people and those of a more European descent using the word. For Puerto Ricans, a lot of them are of some African descent be it from the Libertos – heavily restricted, free Africans who traveled to Puerto Rico with the Spaniards who would invade Puerto Rico – or other means. You also have an assemblage of Middle Easterners who take solace in using the word as African-Americans would.
I personally take issue with anyone not of African American descent using any variation of “nigga.” I have Hispanic and Middle Eastern friends who use nigga as a term of endearment and it makes me uncomfortable a lot of times.
It’s not a word that anyone who isn’t black should feel comfortable saying or want to say.
JB: To be half African American understandably creates gray area but I agree with you that this whole issue would be better off with a black and white policy, because when it came to the birth of the word there was no gray area on who was subject to the evils of slavery and Jim Crow it was very literally Black and White, or in some ways black and anything but black.
Fat Joe once dared anyone to question his credentials over his n-word usage. It’s the god Crack, fully armed strapped!
Gray area in these types of matters often leads to slippery slopes. What I have seen traveling around New York City to different areas and therein different demographics is that the parameters for using this powerful word is simply that you grew up in an urban area that had a multicultural makeup and you chilled with black dudes who, when you first tried to say it, never said don’t do that. Similar to your example Marcel. When that gray is allowed to stand you get stuck with the results. I have a friend of legitimate African descent, his father is from Zimbabwe, and he has a similar skin tone to myself (I’m pretty damn white folks!). He would be looked at like he had six heads if he used the n-word in any context yet there are Hispanics and Middle eastern people who based on your experiences will throw the word out around friends and not even in a lyric, in conversation with original use versus adapting it from a piece of art.
Trees fall in the forest everyday, B. Is it wrong for a white person to rap the n-word in private?
MW: There’s definitely a fine line between appreciation and appropriation. A lot of times that line is defined by your experiences coming up as you touched on, Jason. However, as adults there is no excuse for not knowing when to universally draw that line. As a culture, we need to do a better job at distinguishing that line and maybe that comes with ridding ourselves of all variations of the word nigga. I’m not sure.
If you’re not black and you’re using the word then you need to know the ramifications of your decision. I’ll give you an example. In 2011 around the time I first moved to Los Angeles, I’m at Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood with some friends. It’s their karaoke night but we’re just there for food and drinks. A white woman goes up to do Biggie’s “Juicy.” You know karaoke. You have the screen with the words right in front of you. She mumbles and stumbles through the entire song until that one line, where she emphatically belts, “And if you don’t know, now you know nigga!” The word nigga rolled off of her tongue so loudly, and so proud. The only thing louder than her saying the word was me yelling from the other side of the bar, “Are you fucking serious right now?” I jumped up out of my seat and began to approach the stage before realizing that I wasn’t in Detroit anymore. A couple more drinks and that could have been a terrible night for the two of us.
In a bar full of white people, in West Hollywood at that, I’m sure she thought she was in the clear to say that word. She wasn’t. I’m sure she didn’t know there were any black people present but that shouldn’t matter. Whether you’re in public or in the privacy of yourself and friends, white people should not feel entitled enough to use the word in any manner.
JB: I would be lying if I said the word isn’t used behind closed doors by people who shouldn’t use it and wouldn’t use it in public. I have heard it first hand. It is unlikely that will ever change as it is only scratching the surface of the despicable things people say in private.
Star rapper Mac Miller has been vocal about how white rappers should not use the n-word. He’s done pretty well for himself without it.
Forgive the optimism but perhaps there is a silver lining in this. We have discussed so much gray and confusion over what you accurately described as the most offensive and vile word in the English language. As we search for some much needed lines in the sand we may have fallen ass backwards onto one: If a white dude knows it’s okay to say at home but not in public, is there a part of him that understands it isn’t his word to use?
That may not make it okay but I do think it shows an awareness of the gravity of the word.
Hip Hop was made to influence and inspire so why is it we get defensive when someone like Blake Lively shows appreciation to culture. Does a big time celebrity automatically equate to culture appropriation?
JB: With the Blake Lively incident I believe it is appreciation being confused for appropriation. Unfortunately in the Azelia Banks and Donald Trump world we currently inhabit, it is much easier to bandwagon on extremism than have a pragmatic, original, middle of the road thought on polarizing matters.
The fact of the matter is that when Iggy Azalea changes her entire annunciation and voice to sell records in a sort of vocal blackface it is appropriation. When the chick from Gossip Girl quotes “Baby Got Back,” it is merely another example that Hip Hop has grown from counterculture and subculture to pop culture.
With that growth comes new fans from all types of backgrounds, ethnicities and geographies. “Baby Got Back” will be heard in karaoke bars this month as many times as “Don’t Stop Believin’.” It is a pop hit, closer in the zeitgeist to “Ice, Ice Baby” than anything by The Notorious B.I.G.
One can understand the apprehension of losing the artform, after all Big Mama Thornton sang “Hound Dog” before Elvis Presley and most of you haven’t heard of her. That is one of many examples of the revisionist history around rock ‘n roll. But Hip Hop has come up in different times and I personally think it will always have roots in and be predominantly African American.
But, be careful what you wish for. Hip Hop has gone across the world, told countless stories, inspired nameless souls of all ages and made lot of folks tons of money. Doing all this comes with a price, Hip Hop has made it big time, if we are doing so respectfully we should all be able to appreciate it.
MW: I’m not going to hold you up, man. I saw the picture Blake Lively posted with the quote and I’d slide into her DM’s anytime. I think she discovered soul food and I’m not mad at her! For black people, there are times where we take things too serious and this was definitely one of those moments. Perhaps it’s the Lemonade we’ve been sipping on lately that has us thinking every white woman is “Becky with the Good Hair.” What Blake Lively said was certainly along the lines of appreciation.
Hip Hop has totally transformed from counterculture to pop culture. We have to realize that with our culture becoming so fantasized that we’re going to get outsiders flocking to what we do. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s the kind of growth in our culture we need for it to continue to grow. What is appropriation is exactly what you described with Iggy Azalea. I could not have said it better myself and as a black man saying to you, a white man, I greatly appreciate your ability to properly diagnose Iggy as vocal blackface.
DX readers, the floor is yours to discuss the issue/non-issue even further.
Article really should have just been giant block letters reading “No.”
LOL!!! I mean I’m Black but I can’t really expect a White person not to say it when no one is around…
Honestly. You can’t expect to use the word excessively, push your music to the masses then get mad when the masses chant your lyrics.
Don’t like the word… do something about it and stop using it. We are being hypocrites.
Dot
“Allowed” lmao.. What u gonna do about it anyway? NOTHING.
As a Mexican American who likes hip hop, I’m against anyone saying the n word including black people. This argument that the n word was appropriated by black people to take away it’s power sounds nice and makes sense, but that’s certainly not the only way the word is used in the black community, it’s often used as a way to call someone ignorant, for example the Chris Rock joke,”there’s black people and then there’s niggas.” The truth is many non-black people including me, don’t have a complete understanding of black history and their struggle, when we use the word we’re not thinking about race, struggle, and civil rights etc. We’re thinking,”that’s a cool song or a funny joke, I want to imitate it.” But the truth is many black people also don’t understand their own history and struggle and simply use the word because it’s part of the culture. To say that all black people have the right to say the word because of their struggle or experience is ignorant because not all black people are the same, some black people were born into privilege for example. To discriminate between races by saying your this color so you have this right and your this color so you don’t have this right is the same type of racist thinking and discrimination that we as minorities have fought against all our lives. I’ve heard good arguments about the use of the word that I personally like which is that the intended use of the word matters and anyone can use it depending on how it’s used. I believe you either have to not discriminate and allow everyone to use it as long as it’s used appropriately or frown upon anyone who uses it including black people. I prefer the latter but the word has become engraved in our culture, and yes hip hop culture is American culture that isnt strictly black, so I think it’ll never go away sadly. At the end of the day we’re all humans, color based race is an idea that’s only been around for 600 years, don’t label yourself one race and discriminate against another because if you know your history then you know that this type of thinking and approach was used to enslave us and keep us at the bottom.
Its not really fun to rap along to your favorite rap songs while editing yourself. Some people are sensitive about using the word in that context and others aren’t. I don’t think saying a word makes you racist, insensitive maybe. But people are too sensitive about that shit anyway.
at concerts it definitely should get a pass. i think this insecurity around the N word is a bit much at this point I understand the sentiment but the word has been so watered down by both cultures hip hop and pop that something needs to give. you cant got punching ppl or threatening karaoke singers because they rapped along with a song. should it be used in topical everyday conversation certainly not but when expressing art or enjoying art i think passes should be had
How hard is it to skip over one word in a song? Why is this even a discussion? I will never understand some white people’s desire to use that word. Classless motherfuckas lol this is coming from a white guy
Black is not a culture, a culture is your upbringing, the people and community you are raised around. Blacks and whites can share a culture
this whole idea of who’s black and who can use the word nigga is a little misguided. Puerto Rican dude needs a history lesson; to hear him tell it only a small group of Puerto Ricans are actually “black”. You need to unlearn that homie. Our heritage, both ethnically and culturally owes as much to Africa as it does to Europe. They don’t teach you that in college tho. Moreover, the reason Puerto Rican and Dominican and to a lesser extent middle eastern kids in nyc use the word is because it’s part of their everyday lives. The word, for better or worse, is a part of their cultural environment. That’s different than some suburban kid trying to sound cool or down or whatever.
I really think that the responsability is ours as black people. We used it so much in songs that became pop culture that we can’t expect any other result. It would be wise to stop using that word ourself. By the way the debate between culture appreciation and culture appropriation is more complex than we think. Anybody should be able to sing a rap song in its totality as well we should all be able to say that we appreciate a Picasso painting. Culture has to spread period. If the word nigga is used in a popular song, white, asian, arabian, indian, hispanic people will say nigga that’s it. If not the author should not use the term to begin with. No censorship, if a rapper say nigga in a song he or she should expect non black people to say it. This is culture, if a 150 years old poem is written by a black guy and says nigga and is taught in class. Every kid learning it will say nigga because this is culture. So this is simple, we should stop using that word or accept that everybody sings it. Because this is culture. However it can never be used in a conversation this is clear.
People can do whatever the fuck they want, however, respect is key.
Remember you said this when you’re picking up your teeth from the concrete.
If you identify yourself as “black” then you are already lost and dont know what you are talking about. To all the so called “black” people in here; You are NOT black, you are African. For over 500 year your ancestors have been interbreeding with Europeans. I know its hard to admit but 100% of African-Americans have white features and some Native-Indian The largest Human DNA study, called the Human Genome Project, shows that all of Humanity DNA is mostly similar and that we are all Africans. What “Black Po-*8*r” minded people dont understand is the modern human came from Africa and the whole world is modern humans. Neanderthals died out long time ago. Europeans are not Neanderthals, they have some Neand DNA in them, but only 3% to 5%. Its OK for Latinos to say the N word bc they are “mixed” with “black” but not OK for Europeans because they are not? This shows your racism towards European people in general. Racist people never realize they say racist sh**. They really think what they say makes logical sense.
Hip Hop is not a “black” culture. Black culture does not exist. Hip Hop is a Universal culture that is shared by all the GHETTO’S around the WORLD. Ask KRS-One and the architects. Most older black folks most certainly dont associate themselves with Hip Hop and they dont say the N word. Likes KRS-One said its how you used the word, “My N-)9**”… those are peaceful words… vs “You Ni+-\s” those are war words. .f you dont understand Hip Hop then you should not be talking about this. What amazes me is how you are OK with Jay-z saying the N word but as soon as someone thats whites says it because she sings along with it you flip the F out like she IS jim crow? If you think of Slavery time and Jim Crow when you hear white people saying n***a( not n… ER) then I feel sorry for you. Slavery was abolished over a 100 years ago and you live in the wrong times. We have a black president, black doctors, lawyers, mayors, and etc. now and you still complain about something that happened well over a hundred years ago? Get a grip on reality man and stop looking at things as “black and white”. Go listen to Michael Jackson – Black or White. Chill out my ni**a. Im european BTW.
Legitimate discussion, thats been going on for at least the last 20 years….but not a big surprise, as a white person, it’s a difficult word, but then again typically it’s not the original context (er), or word (a) not er.
why does no one mention songs like Styles P- White n****z get mentioned?? oh not pop music?? too much message??
To me it looks stupid even to hear black people use the word nigga so often, let alone when white people use it…
Thanks for putting Miley as the white person on the photo for the story.
wtf do you mean they cant say it in private? Im hispanic, not african american, if i hear a song that says n*gga, and im rapping/singing along, ima say it too. I dont censor myself. If someone made a song called “F*ck Sp*cs” OF COURSE i would be mad and disgusted, but freedom of speech is so above me that i have no right to tell anyone NOT to sing/rap along with a word that is intended to hurt me. I personally say sp*c as a way to diminish the impact of the actual word. I understand this country has a dark history, unforgivable history with the way it has treated minorities, that includes MY people being pushed out the country, or badly treated, nothing can compare to slavery, but regardless of that, N*gga doesnt have the same meaning it did 50 years ago. Like it was stated above, it has become a term of endearment. ALSO noones gonna police the way i speak or the way i speak with people i know/am close with. N*gga is part of my vocabulary, not the most common word i use, but its still in there. Everyone has the right to say whatever they want REGARDLESS of anyone’s feelings. so f*ck YOUR feelings, f*ck MY feelings, and the douches talking above. We want equality but can take a joke, or get too sensitive when someone attacks us, BUT F*CKIN DIE LAUGHING when its someone else, or have no problem with it. #FreedomOfSpeechOverEverything.
freedom of speech, nigggaaaaaaaaa
The real question is – should rappers and musicians still be using the N word in 2016? Or is it a primitive construct that continues to get perpetuated in ignorance for the sake of forced rhyme…?
What a waste of 2000+ words.
No, white people can’t say the word ‘Nigga’. Not unless they have their dentist on retainer.
Whites should definitely NOT rap the word ni66a or use it in their lyrics.
if black people want to one day stop being laughed at by the entire world, the first step is stopping this thin-skinned, limp-wristed sensitivity at people of a certain skin tone saying a word you just decided to get assdevestated about. having one word as your kryptonite is hilarious to the rest of the world and if the black community wants to be taken seriously one day it will stop treating this nonsense as an emotional game.
How bout white people stop buying rap music. Problem solved, move on
The fact that there are so many non-Black people here justifying their right to say a word not meant for them truly shows how ass America is lol.
We should stop using the N-word ourselves……and start makin’ ourselves whole again.
I don’t see any other group of people embracing derogatory terms that are exclusive to their group. It’s ass backwards reasoning. I’ve never seen a gay person embrace the word f*ggot and reason that “It used to be a horrible insult but now we draw strength from it in some twisted way because we demand that only other gay people can say it.” Same goes for the mentally disabled and the word retard.
Either we all get to use it or we all should avoid saying it, but demanding exclusivity makes you sound stupid as f*ck.
And f*ck HipHopDX for censoring user comments. I almost forgot this is a God-fearing website for children.
Im white, im 36, Australian with European heritage…..i wont type it..ill get it out there..im here because of Wu Tang, im here because of BIG…but…This is ridiculous. I read how at karaoke you see someone rap BIGs lines and they say the N word and YOU take offence to it…no one was saying it to YOU. They’re singing it…how the fvck are we..white..as hip hop fans who appreciate the music, the art, the science, not supposed to say it. Its in every song. I remember here in Australia, ODB’s N***A please was released…i went to 3 stores to find it and I had to order it…here is the transcript like it was yesterday;
Me: Im after the new ODB album
White Chick (WC): Whats it called
Me: Ummm, im not sure can you look it up to see if its available (I knew what it was called)
WC: ODB??
Me: Yeah or try Ol’ Dirty Bastard
WC: Giggles
Me: Anything
WC: Umm I cant find it…don’t think its out yet
Me: It is, it was released yesterday, we might not be getting it yet
WC: if you can find the name of the album I can find it
Me: Ummm, try NA please
WC: NA??
Me: Yeah
WC: Nothing
Me: Ok, try typing in N, asterix, asterix asterix A
WC: “Puzzled look”
WC: Oh I found it…whats it mean
Me: It’s the “N” word
WC: Oh, that’s difficult
Now as a white consumer of hip hop, how are you not to sing it or say it when 50, Boosie and Buck drop a song where the chorus is literally the N word multiple times over and over and over.
You’re sitting here on your editorial perches preaching about how it affects you that white people, sing the N word in a song that has been released for GLOBAL CONSUMPTION…..the artists are responsible for that…if they don’t want it said…don’t say it.
You tell us what not to do…tell me what I should do..not listen to hip hop…because I think that’s the underlying issue. You believe that white people should not listen to hip hop because its your culture…which I get, however its also my culture..because hip hop speaks for me, it speaks about me, it speaks to me. When I rap along to songs im not saying it to offend you, im not saying it to degrade you, im not saying it to racially vilify you. I have No Malice (see what I did there). I understand the deep underlying roots of it…but for me, I refuse to give it power, or meaning………….so if you don’t know now you know N***A
YES!! I AGREE WITH YOU! How are we white people supposed to rap to a song that says the goddamn word so many times. And you can’t come to me and say “rap music is for black people” because I’m pretty sure half of Drake’s fan base is not black. So yeah he’d be pretty much broke if he asked white people to stop listening to him.
Part of the problem in not being able to stop saying the N word is that we have too many lower class blacks and not enough middle to upper middle class. The weight of the lower class is too ignorant to let the word go. They feel too insecure and inferior to even make it remotely possible. The middle to upper middle class blacks cling on to it to relate, period.
Words only have the meanings that we assign to them.
Marcel Williams you moron, Hip-Hop is a black culture and as long as you have rappers rhyming NIGGA with NIGGA the responsibility is on YOU when you have whites randomly throwing N word just for kicks. And yes, I’m still looking at you, Marcel, you fucking dumb-ass, stop finding excuses for latinos, Middle Easterners, Asians, etc.
Using the N word should be either allowed or forbidden to be used by anyone. Go get your shit straight because you’re babbling.
lmao you americans are brainwashed, nowhere in the world anyone cares about white ppl saying nigga.
this is a very layered question.
tbh, I never had a problem with white ppl that grew up around us in the same situations that we encountered saying n!gga, because sh!t they n!ggas too. the world is classist before racist.
but if we allow it in the space of rap music, then we open another door. because not everybody who like rap, really come from the circumstances we come from. and don’t really understand.
but at the same time, I really kind of tired of n!gga and “n!gger” being a trump card for dumb asses.
I think that it’s more than a should white people rap n*** issue. I’ll admit, as a white person with black family members I get the offensiveness of it. But, if a song is catchy and you get caught up in it, the word can slip from time to time. Quoting someone is completely different than Aiming it at someone. Also, if you don’t won’t whites to say it here are two simple option: 1) expand your vocabulary, so you don’t have to use it in your songs. 2) don’t make your music available to mostly white (aka pop) stations.
You racist MF that wrote this article should criticize black rappers for using that word instead of attacking the FANS. People are starting to wake up
Completely agree with Smh. It’s not that hard for me to skip over it so that’s what I do as a white person. I don’t let my family members say it either. It’s just not necessary.
Fans are allowed to say whatever the artist is saying.
It’s aIt’s a sa song asong and kand kids akids are sare stupidand gonna sing along. Everyone does it. Maybe not on video. To me if a word is that divisive then nobody should use it. If it is so hurtful quit using it entirely. No other group or race refers to themselves as an offensive nor oppressive title. The best way to eliminate a slur is to quit using it. Eventually it will disappear. At least that is what I think.
Damn this site’s auto correct goes crazy a lot!
Its a song and kids are stupid and gonna sing along. Everyone does it. Maybe not on video. To me if a word is that divisive then nobody should use it. If it is so hurtful quit using it entirely. No other group or race refers to themselves as an offensive nor oppressive title. The best way to eliminate a slur is to quit using it. Eventually it will disappear. At least that is what I think.
So let me get this straight…You want me to drop my hard earned money on your music, but I can’t sing along? Yea um go fuck yourself. Pathetic, unfortunately black people will never allow themselves to be treated the same as everyone else, so enjoy the ghetto and being able to say nigga while the rest of the world focuses on the future and not the past. This is such a tired ass argument. To call rapping along with a song racist, is actually disturbing, and the fact that the ONLY reason it’s racist is becuz a white person is rapping along, is actually racist in itself. SMH, I pity the members of the black community that don’t even know what racism is despite it being so important to their culture.
As long as you try to make a word exclusive and hold it hostage for your own reasons there will be others using it. I believe that no matter what race you are you should not use that word. You should be proud of where you came from but also should be moving on and not keeping a word that is so symbolic with oppression relevant.
Now if a white rapper uses the word in a song that he wrote he should catch a beat down. Unless he has a co-sign. Ultimately though it’s an unnecessary word that doesn’t need to be used by anyone. Read a book and learn some new vernacular .
I don’t think white ppl should use the word but in a karaoke where they’re just reading and singing along? How can u get mad at that? Don’t put it in the song if you don’t want ppl to sing it
White people don’t need to USE the word a lot, because why would they? But I think we should be allowed to say it like in a lyric or something. I listen to a lot of rap, and I so I should have to censor myself when rapping along? Come on.
It has a history, I get it, but it is still just a word. The intentions behind the word should be more important than the word itself.
Agreed! Words have absolutely no meaning without the intent behind it. If you say something to be derogatory then it doesn’t matter how you dress it up. For example saying plus sized instead of fat. If the intent is to be demeaning then what’s the difference ?
I unreservedly respect the word and would never use it in a sentence. However, one of the points of art is to give viewers/listeners a chance to get in the artists head. If I’m listening to Biggie/Nas/2pac and I’m feeling the song so much that it would break the connection to pause or make a point then I find that more disrespectful to the art that they created. I will say that in public I would never disrespect anybody in my presence to say it tho, I would probably have to leave out the whole line though! The reason I cross this taboo divide when I’m listening to hip hop is because I wholeheartedly feel it and these icons are way too high in my opinion for me to even consider it in the negative way. This does make me refrain from using it when in a diss song as even though the usage doesn’t point at a difference in the ppl it feels wrong to be used as a part of any kind of insult!
So we can buy tickets to concerts, buy music, but when we sing along we have to censor ourselves? gtfoh.
It’s racist to say the word, but it’s also racist to not say it,if all lives matter including black then stfu n live life don’texpect special treatment
All this racist shit going on and now you stupid young motherfuckers want to let white folks say the “n-word”?!?! Y’all must be some lead poisoned brain fucked idiots! FUCK NO white people should NEVER be allowed to even rap the “n-word”! As a matter of fact, it’s about time black folks stop using the damn word in public so much because we act like NOTHING is sacred anymore and are sharing EVERYTHING with them DEVILS!
Thanks, ThirdEye, for showing us a great representation of racism in action.
I believe that we need to move on about the “history” of a word. Every word has a history behind it. I hear the same old excuse of why “nigga” shouldn’t be used: “You don’t know the history behind that word”. Well you don’t know ALL of the history behind the world either. You don’t know what people of the past fully went through in their lives, just parts. You don’t hear Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, or Caucasians hit the brakes when “the one word is misspoken”.
No matter what skin color I am, I’m going to jam out to ASAP Ferg!
If black people don’t like white people using it then they shouldn’t use it either. There. Done.
Black people keep talking sh** and piss off the white people> When we STOP buying rap music is the day that black artist will be broke on the streets
She is so fine
It is racist by black people to completely prevent a word from being used by another race. Either all words are on limits, or off limits.
Vocal blackface, verbal segregation…tomatoes, potatoes. If I get called a gringo, I won’t beat the kid who said it, because of the deep rooted history along with the origin of the word. Why? Because I know they didn’t create that word to oppress in that moment. It was already made. I’m a bastard too. Am I mad a that? No cause it’s true. We give power to the words we want to give power to. I’m a rapper and my bf is from West Africa. Going to a rap concert and having to bite my toungue at the end of every couple lyrics would be a fucking buzz kill! Everyone knows that! You don’t want white people to have fun cause it makes you feel better? Bro it’s just a word. If you want to change it, talk to the mainstream who write the shit. That’s all.
Geez dude, now you said the R word. Just keep digging yourself deeper.
“The only thing louder than her saying the word was me yelling from the other side of the bar, “Are you fucking serious right now?” I jumped up out of my seat and began to approach the stage before realizing that I wasn’t in Detroit anymore. A couple more drinks and that could have been a terrible night for the two of us.”
So… lemme get this straight. You were so pissed off about the word that you were going to use physical intimidation to punish the person who said it (not because she wanted to hurt someone, mind you, but because it was a lyric in a song)? And the only reason you stopped was because you were afraid that there were no other people to back you up should some of the white guys decide to defend the woman? If that’s not what you meant, I suggest you make yourself more clear next time, and if it was in fact your intention, than… what can I say? Even if she was throwing the word in your face with a clear intent to be insulting, it wouldn’t make the violence justifiable, and you would quite rightfully end up in jail for that.
Fuck. Off.
The very *second* any rapper accepts a check for the sale of an album/single they have given permission for the entire world to sing it.
Neither you, nor anybody you know, has *ever* been on a plantation, and indeed, lead a very privileged life to even be discussing such nonsense.
GTFOH with that mess.
I just wanna know what to say instead of n*****? I’ve never felt comfortable saying, but it ruins the flow when you gotta stop blank
I generally use playa
True. Being racist is never okay, and the word is bad but it is a word. It cannot compare to violence (which can literally cause death, especially as he’d been drinking). Besides she didn’t say it normal she was just singing it and
Just want to clarify what you’re saying — there are different rules for people with different skin colors, ethnicity, or culture? We’re held to different standards, not an equality? The hypocrisy is strong in this one.
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Exactly!