I Can Say The N-Word, You Can’t…
“You can’t say n*gga, n*gga.”While this sounds contradictory, Kanye West conveyed this message in his disclaimer as he performed to a predominately white audience at FaceBook, this week. Before performing his song “Mama’s Boyfriend’, the uncensored rapper said, “pardon me, it’s a lot of the use of the N Word…But I’m allowed to use it”.
Oh, really Kanye?
Dressed dapperly in a two-piece suit, the rapper looked more like a professor teaching a class than a rapper spitting rhymes. Known to spark controversy, his clean-cut attire and seemingly good mood that day suggested that he would take it easy on the audience with his usual tirades; that is until he uttered his disclaimer.
The contradiction of his statement was overshadowed as he spit usual ‘Kanye fire’, commanding the audience’s attention. So while no one in the audience seemed to revisit, or even care about his disclaimer, Kanye’s way of thinking is a subject that many black, and non-black people have debated about over and over again.
The debate: If black people don’t expect non-blacks to use the N-word, then should we not include it in our vocabulary either?
Hip-Hop culture is innovative. I like that about it. It can take a bad situation and flip it. Coincidentally, this is what many argue about the N-Word.
An article on ABCNews.Com, titled, The N-Word: The Most Popular Ugly Word Ever, stated what most of us already knew. The article sought to give some sort of clarity (i.e lesson in ebonics). “Those who have defended the use of the N-word have said that the word’s different spellings indicate its different meanings. “Nigga” or “niggaz” is supposed to be the more conciliatory version and refers to a friend or buddy. The “er” spelling is more sinister and calls up slavery, segregation and racism.”
And unless you’ve lived under a rock, chances are if you are black, you’ve used the N-word or at least been in the presence of a black person that has. From comedians and rappers to the suit and tie guy, The N-Word transcends educational and socioeconomic levels.
Is it really that deep? Should the N-Word offend us if non-blacks use it in the same manner that we do? Or are we still harboring feelings of slavery that won’t allow us to accept them using the word?
On the contrary, can we expect them not to use a word that we use so frequently?
Well Kanye thinks so. He can do it, but ‘they’ can’t.
Oh, really Kanye?
Dressed dapperly in a two-piece suit, the rapper looked more like a professor teaching a class than a rapper spitting rhymes. Known to spark controversy, his clean-cut attire and seemingly good mood that day suggested that he would take it easy on the audience with his usual tirades; that is until he uttered his disclaimer.
The contradiction of his statement was overshadowed as he spit usual ‘Kanye fire’, commanding the audience’s attention. So while no one in the audience seemed to revisit, or even care about his disclaimer, Kanye’s way of thinking is a subject that many black, and non-black people have debated about over and over again.
The debate: If black people don’t expect non-blacks to use the N-word, then should we not include it in our vocabulary either?
Hip-Hop culture is innovative. I like that about it. It can take a bad situation and flip it. Coincidentally, this is what many argue about the N-Word.
An article on ABCNews.Com, titled, The N-Word: The Most Popular Ugly Word Ever, stated what most of us already knew. The article sought to give some sort of clarity (i.e lesson in ebonics). “Those who have defended the use of the N-word have said that the word’s different spellings indicate its different meanings. “Nigga” or “niggaz” is supposed to be the more conciliatory version and refers to a friend or buddy. The “er” spelling is more sinister and calls up slavery, segregation and racism.”
And unless you’ve lived under a rock, chances are if you are black, you’ve used the N-word or at least been in the presence of a black person that has. From comedians and rappers to the suit and tie guy, The N-Word transcends educational and socioeconomic levels.
Is it really that deep? Should the N-Word offend us if non-blacks use it in the same manner that we do? Or are we still harboring feelings of slavery that won’t allow us to accept them using the word?
On the contrary, can we expect them not to use a word that we use so frequently?
Well Kanye thinks so. He can do it, but ‘they’ can’t.
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