A Wu-Tang Clan fan in the UK has been handed a £500 fine for using the n-word while rapping the lyrics to the group’s debut single “Protect Ya Neck.”
According to The National, Kyle Siegel, a 25-year-old white man from Norgaet, Lerwick, was recording himself rapping the 1993 song for TikTok while standing in a women’s bathroom stall.
What Siegel didn’t realize was there was a mixed race woman in the cubicle next to him who was left “severely shocked” by the incident, which took place at the Scalloway Boating Club around 1 a.m. on February 20, 2022.
Siegel admitted saying the word during a hearing at Lerwick Sheriff Court, but said he had no idea the complainant was in the stall next to him as he spit the lyrics to “Protect Ya Neck.” He also admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner, entering the women’s bathroom in which there were a number of people present and uttering the word.
Procurator Fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told the court the singing was loud enough for the complainant to hear, which resulted in an argument developing between Siegel and the woman before the incident was reported to the police.
Siegel’s lawyer, Tommy Allan, said his client was “singing along to a TikTok on a friend’s phone.”
Allan then gave Sheriff Ian Cruickshank a brief breakdown of who the Wu-Tang Clan are, explaining how they’re a hugely pioneering group formed in Staten Island, New York City, and that all of its members come from an “ethnic background.”
While the defense said there were a few issues surrounding “artistic freedom,” he noted Siegel was not a “person of color.” He added that Siegel accepted “he crossed the line” but didn’t intend to harm anyone with his actions.
Siegel was fined £500 for the offense and also ordered to pay an additional victim surcharge of £20.
White Rapper Gets Socked For Dropping 'N-Word' During Battle
Use of the n-word by non-Black people when it’s used in a song has long been a subject of debate. Earlier this summer, Roddy Ricch faced criticizm when he encouraged the crowd at London’s Wireless Festival to sing the lyrics to his diamond hit “The Box.”
In a video shared online, a largely white crowd can be seen singing every word to the 2019 track while Roddy tells them to “sing that shit.” The festival-goers keep the karaoke going into the chorus and even sing the lyric “suck a n-gga soul” which didn’t seem censored on the audio track.
People on social media were quick to comment on the moment, with many feeling uneasy about a large group of white people freely saying the n-word while others weren’t surprised at all.
“Many a n-gga was sung, nary a n-gga was seen,” someone tweeted while another said: “Ya’ll really thought all them white ppl in that Roddy Ricch performance weren’t gonna say ‘n-gga’? At this point i don’t even cringe when i hear stuff like that, it’s just expected…smmfbbh.”
Meanwhile, Wu-Tang Clan’s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which features the aforementioned “Protect Ya Neck,” was inducted into the U.S. Library of Congress earlier this year.
Each year, the Registry adds 25 sound recordings it deems to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” to its growing list of audio treasures.
Also included in the 2022 class were A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, Alicia Keys’ Songs In A Minor, Duke Ellington’s Ellington at Newport and the Queen single “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
He ain’t protect his neck.
They diluted the word’s original meaning by using it as a greeting to describe the male gender. Now white people use it. Its called EQUALITY.
My thing is, if rappers really don’t want their fans saying the word, then they shouldn’t use it in their songs to begin with. If they use it, then they should expect their fans to sing it. They can’t write their lyrics down then get mad at their fans for rapping their song word for word. Like they expect them to “censor” themselves. Not saying all the fans do this since some are aware of what they’re rapping along to.
Drake is gay
Dumb. Most Wu-Tang fans are white.
Fined $500 for saying a word? We really are living in a dystopian science fiction movie smh
Special forces vet in Britain posted a meme that made funnof someone and the pigs showed up at his house and arrested him because his meme.caused someone emotional anxiety…. get ready folks shits coming to the western world anyday
i’ll say whatever the fuck i want fuck u.
if its not used racially it shouldn’t be a problem. dude got fined for singing a song.
Hold up. This dude was lurking in a stall…………in the ladies room. But the big scandal here is the n-word???? Hahahaha! What the actual fuck?
search Sean Price “N-Word Participation” on youtube to further break down on this subject
I say the word all the time…with a hard ER. I ain’t never got fined lol
Blatant violation of free speech.
It literally is not a right over here.
Should be a right everywhere.