Extremely well stated. I’m so glad to know that you and I’m sure others in your community stand by NOT using that word.

The damage that Hip Hop has done so much dissapoints me. I also think that all the work, sacrifice and even life given by Martin and Malcolm amongst others has been destroyed.

But has it been ALLOWED to be destroyed is even deeper question.

As a supposed “Latino” myself, I also have to fight, even in the subtlest ways, stereotypes and perceptions about my people most of the time.

There are elements in every race, especially the most oppressed that bring down or help oppress or stereotype the rest of us who want progression. Who want respect and work hard to fight such things.

Internalized oppression, thats what it is.

Hip Hop ruined Funk. Hip Hop has also given kids an easy way to make music on the lazy. Just so much negativity, its baffling. And it spills to others races like I’m suggesting.

Lets say we, black and latino, buy into that, that Hip Hop, “gansta” culture and lifestyle, when say we, want to move forward, we cant as easily as a white or asian kid can. They can change their attire and bam, success in place.

We have a harder time, its a crutch.

Now mind you, Ive been observing the gangsta to suit wearing “mogul” thing happening. I just saw a cover of either Jet or Ebony with Ludacris titled as “The New Ludacris”. There’s this weird phenomena of gansta rappers turning mogul now. But thats fantasy. In the real world, its not so easy.

Thanks for posting some thought provoking commentary Hucky, very much appreciated. ANd throwing a Prince story is keeps it all within theme too!

Duke could use that word today and hardly turn a head. How pleased would he be really?

Like it or not the word is being used. The positive is that it’s going thru a transformation. The word has a history and that should always be remembered, but why not let the word become what it wants because the more it deviates from it’s origin, the more it will lose it’s power. Perhaps not to those who experienced negativity thru it, but for present and future generations.

That’s not a bad thing. The more you hold onto it and keep it like a sacred thing, the longer it will retain it’s potency and it’s power.

Transition often has it’s pains but so does growth.

Im with you in this so much hucky! I wish I could post this all over the place for Everyone..to see!! I have always disliked this word. To me it means hate. It was born out of hate. If only those that use this word would acknowledge the history.. it was used in a degrading way..hurtful..in disrespect. It is a word born out of hate so I have always been so baffled how one could call their “friend” this and to go back in history once more how can one call their “friend” this when it was first spoken out of a mouth that was about to hang a fellow black man. To me it is a word to be associated with pain and sadness and hey Im a white female yet this word has always bothered me..and saying nigga is no different. Tomato..Tamato..No difference!! Ya follow me?
Its no different. Still the same natsy degrading word!

Someone just not long ago sent me a comment with a gold background and the words written across it Gold Nigga..of course I deleted it and Im all about Prince..yet I would never post that word anywhere nor say it. It is a word associated to suffering. I think all should make a stand..not to say it. I wish our artists would start writing songs..to NOT say it.
Start singing about how the word started.
Maybe it would wake those up that use it.. to stop!

Much Love.. judy

Well stated points. Unfortunately my own generation is the one you are refering to. I’m not innocent of committing the same crime, however I was always confused about other cultures using that word. In particular the Latino culture using the word “Nigga.” I can recall being on campus in college hearing a group of young Latina women saying “nigga this…nigga that.” I always thought to myself “Now if I started calling my friends spic this and spic that you guys would have a fit.” We have dumbed ourselves down. Somebody important held the mirror up to our face and the reflection ain’t so pretty.

It’s not a word that is transitioning as some people would have you think. It still has negative connotations and evokes bad feelings among todays youth as well. I think they are feeling stuck with it, and that’s really unfair.
In a historic context like a film or a book- I think it is okay to use the “N” word because it sets some context for the story- especially if race relations in this country are being discussed and dissected through the plot. The problem I see with it is that people literally DIED to fight the racist mentality and brutality that accompanied this word. It’s not JUST a word, it’s a history of injustice and racist behavior in this country. Words mean something, that’s why the backsliding ignorance of our country is so alarming. Our own government has started using the Orwellian dictionary by simply stating the opposite of what is true and having the media parrot it until we believe it. Pop culture thinks “bitch” is an okay word to describe any woman (”didn’t MEAN anything by it”) - at the same time using it as a put down to a man who is thought to be not manly enough. The “N” word is just the same. Are people so lacking in creativity that they can’t think up something other than a derogatory term to greet or refer to their friends?
I am someone who hopes one day we get past color issues and focus on what each individual brings to the table. I was lucky enough to grow up on military bases where color was never an issue - because we all spoke the same language in a foreign country and that was an immediate bond. Plus we were kids - and having a 6 year old - I know racism is not a built in feature. I am someone who would love to see no need for affirmative action or race based scholarships - I’d rather see it go to those who simply cannot afford college or have a business that needs help to get over a hurdle. But that’s not going to happen until the self worth of a group who was tread on harder than any group in this country - except the Native Americans (and that is a whole ‘nother issue) - is leveled to those who have enjoyed a sense of freedom commensurate with the color of their skin. I certainly don’ think that is going to happen by perpetuating words that historically have kept a group of people down.

On a lighter note - I was wondering how effective I could be in coining the term “my cracka”…lol.

i wholeheartedly agree…

2 this day it still puzzles me how the Black race think they turned a racial epithet into sumthin positive. either way its ironic
EEJAI

Great point, Hucky… I agree 100%. That word needs to go! And, it comes down to the black community to do something about it.
jazzmaster

Well let’s not truly get me started on this subject because it can turn into a made for T.V. movie. First of all the word means low down dirty person of ANY race, color, crede, or nationality. But since many of us black people are one dementional we can’t seem to rise above simple words that only have power if we give it to it. I know the meaning of the word & it wouldn’t matter what race you are if you call me a nigger / nigga the first question I’m going to ask you is DO YOU KNOW ME? Because if you don’t know me you would have no idea as to whether or not I’m a low down dirty person, so I would advise you to go & look the word up. Now to this whole hip hop culture thing I’m not impressed at all, in fact if you add the letter C to the front of rap you would get it’s true nature Crap music. These brothers & sisters have no clue to the power they have over the youth’s minds, istead of trying to fill them up with knowledge they show them the ignorant side of living, they never use proper english & they parade our sisters around like whores & totally disrespect them by having them dancing around in next to nothing & calling them a bitch as if it’s some sort of honor to be degraded. & the sad part of it is these sisters laugh & smile as if it’s a honor to be called a bitch by a famous rapper. These idiots think they look good because they have money & bling & so our youth want to idolize or immulate this rap artisits that wear their pants hanging off their asses & go around drinking & smoking weed all day as if to say hey look at me don’t you want my life style? When in actuality they look like clowns.

I also agree 100%. The word in any form is unacceptable and offensive and anyone who uses it is preventing our society from really moving forward.

Great post, Huck.

Thank you for this story Hucky. It was a fantastic, thought provoking read. I agree with you big time.

If someone uses the “c” word in reference to a female, it makes me cringe. It is rooted in hatred, and meant to demean and debase women.

So it is with the “N” word in any form…but it is demeaning to an entire race. I don’t think keeping it alive serves to keep folks from forgetting the awful history of slavery. It think it is keeping alive the perception that Black folks are “less than.” Even if applied to Asians, Hispanics, or Caucasians.

Just some random thoughts here.

First let me say thanks to you Hucky for this story as well as your opinions expressed. I happen to agree with you 100%.

I believe the adage you referred to that states “What you say, or allow to be said about you, is what you will become”, is absolutely true. That is the biggest problem I have with our people calling each other that word. I know we are putting ourselves down, DESPITE our intention.

Sermon Time :).

As a Christian, my Bible tells me “Death and Life is in the power of the tongue”. I cringe when I hear us use that word because I know on a spiritual level we are speaking death to ourselves and don’t even know it. Also in the Christian Bible there are example after example after example of God changing people’s names. He wasnt’ changing people’s names just for kicks. There was a reason for that. He knew there was a spiritual element to words and names and when a name is called, something spiritual is being released into the earth. He even SPOKE the earth into existence. There wasn’t even light until after he SPOKE it into existence. Words are powerful.

End of Sermon

There are certain words that are just plain poison and will always be something negative. “Child Molester” will always be something negative whether it’s Molester or Molesta. That n- word will forever be something negative whether it is spelled with ‘er’ or ‘a’, and it’s time to move on from it.

And let me just say the argument that we’ve adopted the word to “take the power away” is just plain silly imo. If the power has been taken out of the word, then a white person should be able to walk up to any black person and call them that name and the black person not react. The fact that most Black Americans will more than likely have some form of negative reaction, shows the word is still full of power and black people embracing the word hasn’t done anything to reduce it’s power.

We can stop the use of the word but many of us don’t want to because we don’t understand that it is indeed negative. We don’t understand that in essence we are spitting on our history and our ancestors. It breaks my heart to know that there are black elders alive today who fought against that word, only to have black youth walk around calling each other that word with pride. It truly breaks the heart.

We’ve got to move on. I believe just as phrases like “Right On” and “Dynomite”, and “Cat” and “Fox”, and “Groovy” have moved on, so can that dreaded poison filled word.

Words are very important and powerful and they should not be taken lightly. It’s not going to happen overnight but the word must go. There should at least be effort made to stop it.

To those blaming hip-hop, I say get a life. Yes hip-hop has perpetuated usage of the word and taken all aspects of urban culture (both negative AND positive) as subject matter. But the fact is many black folks have long used the word among themselves in a variety of contexts. As a non-black I will NEVER be comfortable using the word and I’m equally uncomfortable assuming the right to judge how black folks use it. However, the argument can be made that young folks adaptation of the word HAS difused it’s viciousness - at least among their generations. It won’t happen until my (and yours Huck) older generation(s) die off that the word becomes truly difused - but it’s on the way. We who feel the word’s ugly history in our gut simply can’t relate to that - and we shouldn’t. But if the ugliness dies with us, then we’ve given our youth a gift. I suspect that in another couple generations when Sunni and Shia muslims start embracing and referring to each other as “my nigga”, the world will wonder what all the commotion was about in the first place. (We can dream, can’t we)?

YEAH…that always bothered me. “Gold Nigga”
I still to this day don’t see what was the point.

It is true that some of us as black people have long used the word amongst ourselves. I have been black all of my life and have heard that word all of my life, but am I crazy in my observations that I hear it now more often that I ever have? Am I crazy in that I hear it now coming from the mouths of non-blacks more than I ever have in my life? Am I crazy in believing hip-hop has had a HEAVY hand in the increased use of the word? And are my feelings of not being happy about this legitimate?

Alan with all due respect, the use of that word is much bigger than simply a generational thing. This is about self-respect, it’s about respect of other brothers and sisters, and yes it is indeed about history. I will not forget the history of the word nor give my children permission to forget the history of it. I pray to my God that 100 years from now when Hucky and I are gone, a black President can’t be greeted as a nigga and it is ok. I for one am hoping the ugliness and history of the word is NOT forgotten. When I’m in the mall and hear a group of Black youth, or Hispanic youth, or Asian youth, walking and calling each other that word, I do not feel that is a gift at all.

I just can’t wrap my brain around the fight to insist on black people calling other black people that word (regardless of how it’s spelled). Why can’t just as many fight to embrace “brother” or “brotha”?

With all Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Dorothy Height, and Frederick Douglas wanted for Black Americans, I really don’t think they expected this.

velvetj
Very well put

Can’t quite remember the film, but wasn’t the word used in the context of showing the John Goodman’s character as a racist? Surely in that context it would be okay…

Well, don’t want to get into it, what do I know? Don’t know if it is of interest to anyone, but surely the last time Prince used that word was in the song Radical Man 2045 for the Spike Lee film Bamboozled about the B&W Minstrels:

“Flash backward, 1999 (backward, 1999)
In a world shockful of viruses (Tell me)
How’d y’all stay alive? (Everyone of y’all)
Depending on this so-called man
4 everything U got comes from his hand (From his hand)
Food, water, the clothes you wear
How many of y’all niggas really care?
We don’t care (We don’t care)

Let’s define this word: nigga (Define, define)
Someone who stays high (high)
Watching their life go by (bye bye)
Someone content with riding it behind (ride that)
Nigga
They come in all colors
White, Black, Puerto Rican
But the main niggas we speakin’ ’bout
Wear suits (Say what?) and buy and sell corporations
With only one thing in mind
(Only one thing in mind)(Break it up!)
That is the destruction of the so-called radical man by 2045″

I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENTS. I FEEL AS AMERICANS WE ARE BECOMING WAY TOO DE-SENSITIZED TO VIOLENCE AND DEROGATORY COMMENTS. MY SON IS BI-RACIAL AND I FORBID ANYONE TO USE SUCH TERMINOLOGY AROUND HIM. I DO NOT CARE IF IT IS THE SO-CALLED NON-OFFENSIVE VERSION, MY SON WILL NOT HAVE ANY VERSION IN HIS VOCABULARY. I WOULD FEEL I HAD SERVED HIM A GREAT INJUSTICE BY ALLOWING HIM TO DEGRADE HIMSELF OR OTHERS THAT WAY. THANKS FOR OPENING A FEW EYES. I WISH ALL VARIATIONS OF THAT WORD WOULD DISAPPEAR. I JUST CRINGE ANY TIME I HEAR IT REGARDLESS OF WHOSE MOUTH IT COMES FROM. PEACE AND ONE LOVE, CINDY

AWW MAN!! I was at the Seattle Lovesexy show and waited at the Olympic Hotel afterwards in hope of seeing my idol. One of the flunkies said “Sheila E. might go to a movie and a bunch of fans hung around. I was one of the last and felt like a creepo. Finally, the flunky said “she’s not going” after all these years I find out she and Prince went, damn you guys, you coulda took a poor Indian boy who looked up to his idol.

This is a tricky topic, one that I don’t feel qualified to weigh in on, but what the hey, here it goes…

Back in ‘91, I was in a four-way debate about the use of the “N” word. There were two white guys and two black guys discussing this. I was the white guy against the use of the word and my friend was the black guy against it as well. Our two friends with the opposite view used Chuck D and Spike Lee as examples of “re-empowering” the word, basically taking it back and making it something else. The irony is that both have since changed their minds (and faith) and I could never see them using the word like they did back then.

I’ve recently heard conservative talk show hosts (my guilty pleasure) ranting about how the “N” word should be banned. This is in the post Michael Richards world that we’re all dealing with now. I really don’t see how a conservative white guy has any say in the matter, especially since the word has no meaning to the guy in question.

As for “Gold Nigga”, that’s always been a tough one for me. I like the music, and remember hearing the song for the first time live during the Act 1 tour. It’s catchy and the music is good, but I felt just wrong having it stuck in my head.

I’ve rambled enough, especially for a topic I don’t think I am qualified to discuss, but just wanted to share my memories of the debate.

By the way Hucky, thank you again for what you’re doing. These stories are treasures.

Thanks for speaking so eloquently about such a brutal subject. I often find that the use of these kind of words say more about the person saying them than the person/s they are referring to. I think that non-black people using these words are ignorant, and black people that use these words are feeding the ignorance for future generations.

Funny you should mention buying out the movie theater for the evening. I remember the same thing happening in Detroit at the Ren Cen everytime Prince came to town. A friend of mine was the manager there!

This is a great story, but I’m surprised by Prince’s reaction at the time, given that he used the term on the Black Album, and, of course, named one track 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton - of course, since he cancelled the album at the time he may have thought better of using the term. I wonder what changed in the early ’90s, though, when he began to use it liberally…
booyah

I can relate to Prince’s reaction..it reminds me of one time when I was on a date with a girlfriend…we stopped by some friends of ‘hers’ …they were watching some movie…so we sat down and started watching it…the ‘N’ word was being thrown around like crazy…I felt like throwing the tv threw the window…it made me so angry…maybe because I couldn’t control it…maybe that’s why Prince and everyone else uses the word among friends or just to be funny….when they or ‘I’ KNOW what the context is…..bottom line though….no one should use it.

African Americans…we are our own worst enemy!

Nothing I said above was designed to condone the use of the “n” word. I find it as offensive and unsettling as any other sane, sensitive human being. However, I think it’s unfair to singularly blame hip-hop. Hip-hop merely reflects the culture from which it comes….it’s not the “cause”, rather it’s the “effect”. And the hip-hop generation is hardly the first to sometimes use the “word” as a term of endearment. Obviously many black Americans do NOT do so and discourage the word in any context regardless of the speaker’s color. It’s equally obvious that I’m not the one who should sit in judgement of that.
I guess I’m trying to say that at some point, as human beings, we need to outgrow all this racial bullshit. We need to celebrate, respect and preserve our differences while continuing to remove all obstacles to a level field. That’s one of the reasons I’ve favored some sort of reparation for black America. We need closure.
As someone old enough to have experienced the pre-civil rights era, it’s easy to recognize we’ve made progress. But it’s more important to recognize we still have a ways to go before we can expect a realistic and meaningful “closure”. (Watching the Bush Supreme Court mull over the legality of affirmative action isn’t very encouraging). So I’m merely suggesting that perhaps it’s not a bad thing when some of our youth can difuse the word of it’s horror - even if it’s just among themselves. For them, the word is only as threatening as those speaking it - context and intention are everything.
My point is that while we elders cringe at any usage or distortion of the “n” word, some of these youngsters don’t. WE like to think that their casual attitude reflects a lack of history and respect, but I don’t think that’s always the case.
Just maybe they’re looking at us and saying, “you old guys can stay stuck in your anger (blacks) and guilt (whites) if you need to, but we’re gonna move past that!”.
Just maybe………….

No Alan, I don’t buy that for a second. The use of the word is just like the use of baggy pants and stockings on their heads, it’s a fad. It’s unsettling as hell and something that just has to be recognized as a combination of immaturity, ignorance and posturing. Most of the younger kids today are spoiled in comparison to earlier generations, then they immitate some of the harshest elements of society, people who’s worldviews and true lifestyles they can’t even fathom. What we have is just foolishness and you and I know that if they say the N word in any context in the wrong setting they are going to get hurt. I’ve seen Chinese kids calling each other the word right in front of their black buddies and they don’t correct them, that tells me they weren’t taught like we were taught, what dynamite the word is. The N word has always been a word that rednecks, spoiled rich kids and others have used with impunity merely because they haven’t been around people who would hurt you for using it. Been times where I’ve had to tell people, “you’re gonna get your ass kicked you keep saying that and I’m not gonna do anything cause you are wrong”. Some people have to learn the hard way, and you better believe that these kids probably will.

And hip-hop has to take a huge dollop of the blame for glamorizing “thuggism”. Kids think it’s cool to act like knuckleheads and when it comes time to pay the consequences reality hits with deathly force. I think Hip-Hop, which started out so well and has some redeeming qualities, has been perverted by the use of image. It’s laughable for an old street guy like me to see all races of kids at a university trying to act like a thug when if I look at them hard they would start to cry. It purveys something that is empty and false for most of these young consumers, they don’t live the lives and neither do most of these artists who do anything for a buck. Like I said, Hip-Hop is just a tragic music for American Black people and as a Native American who grew up loving black people, I hate to see it. Remember this garbage gets beamed out all over the world to the point where people immigrate here (even from Africa, sadly) and have tremendous fear of the average black male. Just horrible.

Pete, you and I aren’t that far apart. I’m another oldie but goodie with more than my share of street and I remember when to be cool meant having your shit together, not your pants falling off your ass. But I also remember how annoying it was for MY elders to refuse to try and understand what my generation was about - they ridiculed our long hair and afros and turned up their nose at soul music and funk as “all that noisy yelling”. So I at least try to put myself in the shoes of these youngsters - LOL.
Pop music in all its forms has always had its share of no-talent opportunists who threw junk on the market without any eye on integrity or social responsibility. But whenever one paints music with a broad stroke, they’re also hating on all the pure artists who DO have something worthwhile to say - and hip hop’s history is full of them: Public Enemy, Dead Prez, Jdilla, Common, Talib Kweli, Guru, Mos Def, The Roots, Q-Tip…………etc. , etc. etc. (I did a blog on this subject about 6 months ago on MySpace…
http://www.myspace.com/alanleeds )
There are certain aspects of youth culture that you and I will probably never understand (or accept) but that’s a lifestyle issue that effects every generation. But don’t lose sight on the fact that whatever is wrong with our youth is at least partially a reaction to their elders. What messages have we sent our youth when such a high percentage aren’t raised with the stability of a two parent home. Or by under-funding our school systems to the point that they are embarassingly inept. Youngsters today have been indoctrinated with the hypocrisies and false values of OUR “me, myself and I” culture. So why should we expect them to retain the emblems of dignity and civility that we were raised with? In a sense it’s like blaming the victim!
As far as the “n” word………..I guess I wasn’t trying to be too literal. Common sense says there’s gonna be a lot more ass-whuppings over the use of that word in our lifetime….and some of these non-black kids that use the word are gonna (rightfully) get their feelings hurt.
But in MY dream world, the kids that HAVE become immune to the word’s viciousness are ahead of the game. They’ve escaped a cancer that will be inside folks like you and me to our graves. And if everyone felt like them, there’d be nobody left to get mad and issue the ass whupping. It’s totally unrealistic in 2006, but I’m saying that at some point people gotta get OVER it…….and just maybe these kids are taking the first step in what will be a long process.

I already saw your blog Alan, i’m on your friends list too. Love the anectdotes about Prince, Miles and his dad. Anyway, strange how everyone has been trying to push Muhammad Ali as the father of rap, well if that is the case, they need to follow his lead and if they are hated for anything they will be hated for being too beautiful, too smart, to confident. Yahoo has Ali on it’s front page right now as the creator of rap. With early rap you could see the joy the freedom but with the hip hop of the last 15 years that is all gone and what we are left with is a huge marketing success with a bunch of moneygrubbers. I guess you are right, things have changed.

With all due respect Alan, I disagree with you on blaming Hip Hop.

I think the “thug-ery” and embracing such things does so much damage to the psyche of this country. Its violence based, not matter if its underground or overground (popular).

Its dark. Darker than The Black Album. If its negative, inspires negativity, sheep mentality, then its it what it is.

Hip-hop is a huge cultural umbrella and it shouldn’t take the blame. Yes, the thug element in hip-hop is tasteless and anti-social. But it’s only one genre of hip-hop. That it continues to be among the most popular genres of hip-hop is a comment on society, not the music. There are tons of “positive” hip hop records, many of which are much more rewarding both musically AND lyrically than most “thug” records. So why don’t they sell as well? Why does 50 Cent outsell Common and Talib Kweli?
Sex and drama sell. Why? Because we buy it!! If only half the folks who complain about the vapid, dis-respectful videos on B.E.T., wrote a letter of complaint! You think a major network wouldn’t respond to thousands of complaints? If there was a real movement against the womanizing and thuggery perpetrated in hip-hop (AND r&b…AND hard rock, I might add) videos, it would have an effect. But where is that movement??
Eventually it turns into the age old censorship issue. No matter how tasteless a record may be, who among us has the right to be the ultimate judge? And where does it stop? What protects us from someone who one day decides to protect us from a record they deem too “black” or too Jewish?
My son was raised to respect women and treat his fellow humans with civility - he neither slings nor uses drugs. Yet he is a hip-hop fanatic. His tastes lean towards The Roots but he’s got a soft spot for Snoop and mad respect for Jay-Z’s skills. And he ain’t above bumpin’ down the road to 50 Cent. And I’m happy to say that he’s now reached the age where he decided it was better to wear pants that fit around his waist. Point is, his sense of community, his sense of right and wrong, and most importantly his sense of irony……means NONE of his hundreds of CD’s has ever influenced his behavior in a seriously wrong direction.
In other words, the records REFLECT the culture that already exists, they don’t manufacture it.
Yes some hip-hop is dark (just like some jazz and some country music and some movies and some poetry and some novels). Darkness is part of our world, whether we like it or not. Let’s spend more time teaching our children to follow the “light” and less time cursing the darkness.

Not all of Hip-Hop uses this word, check out this article on Paul Wall

Source: AllHipHop.com
Popular white rapper Paul Wall banished the word from his vocabulary years ago and is supporting the NAACP’s call to ban the word from use in the media and entertainment industries.
“I support the NAACP in their cause,” Paul Wall told AllHipHop.com. “I think the word is offensive for anybody to use. It’s a disgraceful, offensive word that was used to belittle people because of the color of their skin. Its become such a general term, that everyday good people now use the ‘n-word’ in general conversation. Its meaning and definition have evolved, but its roots are still negative.”
Read more: http://www.allhiphop.com/Hiphopnews/?ID=6442

Yes the use of the “N” word really baffles and upsets me to the fullest degree. Why call yourself something that was used and still is used as an derogatory term. You will not hear it in my music.

Hip hop has it’s moments where it glorifies the “n” word, even amongst the least thugish of groups (A Tribe Called Quest’s “Pay Sucka N*gga” comes to mind) but does that make hip hop responsible for perpetuating it’s usage? I can’t say that I agree with blaming hip hop. Why not blame blackxploitation films? Why not blame cable tv? In fact, why not blame comedy? Richard Pryor? Eddie Murphy? Dave Chappelle? The point is, the n word(s) had evolved to everyday slang among black folks before hip hop was even invented. You can’t just say “hip hop is the culprit” bang the gavel and be done. Like it’s been stated, the word is rooted in hatred. We (society) are the culprits for allowing the word to become casual in it’s use and unshocking in meaning. Once in a while we are reminded of how ugly it can be (a la michael richards!) and go back to being offended by it. In short…the ignorance exsisted before the art form.

Now if this dialogue could actually reach the far corners of the country….;)
Alan - too bad you’re so smart, or we could run you for President…lol.

MAX: Amen!

I think to blame Hip Hop for the increasing acceptance of the label “Nigga” is way too easy and simply not justified. One would have to got back to the early 1970s and watch movies like “Foxy Brown”, “Shaft”, “Sweet Sweetback” or even the radical “Coonskin” to find out that it was during the Blaxploitation era that the term became, in a way, culturally accepted. The pimp from “Superfly” is the thug of today. The thug culture has its origins in funk, it didn’t start with Hip Hop.
I also have to disagree with Modernaire’s post above that Hip Hop has killed Funk. It’s actually quite the opposite. Disco may be blamed for the downfall of funk, but Hip Hop has revived it - thanks to skilled producers who used snippets of rare and not so rare funk tracks for samples and that way have laid out the funk for a whole new generation.
In fact, samples in Hip Hop gave attention to filler tracks or less known funk acts that would have never gotten play in 1973, but are sought after today. Many funk artists enjoy big revivals today, thanks to the Hip Hop culture. And artists like Public Enemy have contributed more to James Brown’s legacy in the past 20 years than the man did himself.
In a nutshell, it’s a cultural problem, but the roots go way back. Hip Hop is just another step. This doesn’t make it right, by no means. But after years and years, people get used to it and forget about the original meaning this word used to hold - and still holds. Michael Richards (Kramer) recent scandal in Hollywood is a good example of that. Most black people I know were not so much offended by his use of the word “nigger”, but rather by his “50 years ago, we would have …” comment.

The use of the N word, as you correctly state, has been used by black people for a long time. However, the meaning of it is very different and even among black people, there was always dissension about the word being used at all. I don’t personally like semantics but i’ll give you an example using my own people. When I was growing up “Indian” was what we generally called ourselves, then some suppossed enlightened souls figured it wasn’t good enough and came up with the PC “Native”. Well, I never use native and see nothing wrong with Indian because the word captures a whole legacy that people (Indian and white) would like to leave behind. I am not insulted by “indian” and all of its meanings(immoral,ugly,stupid,lazy,drunk etc..,) I take the word and accept that alot of people went through alot of degradation for it and I wear the word “Indian”. Now, the N word when it was claimed was very similar, to own the word, to take control of it, to disempower the negative aspects of it. That is not how it is used nowadays. Richard Pryor was brilliant in his use of the word, making a joke out of it, (before he himself swore off it). Muhammad Ali once enticed Chris Kristoffersen to call him that (part of a script) over and over because he thought it was hilarious for a skinny white guy to call him that. One word can mean many things and the meanings do change, I do not think we are ready for the way some people are using it. And as far as Hip-Hop, well, there are pros and cons, no arguing with the longevity and success of it. No arguing with a certain black genius (making something from nothing, no traditional musical ability) and creating an art form. I won’t argue the musical merits of it, because it has but a few, but it is incredible that a music could start in places so dark and without hope, people with no help or teaching from anywhere and become the giant it is today. It deserves it’s due. Prince, Ellington, Elvis and any great musician had people who had the time to help them and to teach them. The modern world is not nearly so supportive and Rap is an outgrowth of that. Tupac gave the most concise definition of rap when he traced the devolution of 60’s march songs to the dropping of melody all together and the giving of lyrics over to rhythm. This is a parallel of the state of black america and we can’t ignore that. At it’s best, Rap is as good and as powerful an art as anything. Anyone whos lived any kind of streetlife must be moved by the raw emotion of The Message. There is quality out there but it’s all to easy for any knucklehead to emulate without the intelligence and passion and that is what we have today.

Cat Is BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKK and ALIVE!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvRlTDIGRwY

As a non-black Alan you may want to stay out of the debate.

The issue is not a generation issue either and if you took the label off a bottle of posion and put a new label on the bottle it would still be posion.

The word can not be used in any positive way. I remember watching Terence Howard trying to explain the diff between ‘n***a’ and ‘n***Ger’. He sounded like an idiot. I mean, I expected this from Ludacris who was also there sounding like an a** but Terence seemed like a gentlemanly type. He’s an a** too. I could share similar stories of being called a PaK* repeatedly growing up. Even to this day, when I recall stories from my childhood - if I dont’ catch myself - I actually do become emotional and i’m not just talking angry. I think of Chuck D’s rap about wanting to get his ‘hands around the neck of the man with the whip’ and it sounds so good, almost like a Christmas carol:)(when I’m in that emotional state). The humiliation, the hurt, the pain, the indignity of being called these names can be forgotten momentarily by ‘taking the power of the word away’ by using it in a ‘positive’ way - but it’s only for a moment. The word has too many historically nasty connotations. Only the thoughtless can use the words as easily as it’s used these days.

“GoldNigga” was never released…at least not where I lived. I’m sure that Mr. Nelson has been blocking Hiphop samplers from using his beats because of the possible use of this word over them.

He’s had his “moments”…So have all of us.

Todah Yahwah for showing me the way to address others.

“The Truth” is in Torah

well said bro.

i dont tolerate any language like that. as you say, its adding to a stereotype that shouldt exist.

on the other hand though, i think the door swings both ways. i was pretty offended that martin lawrence gets to call white folks “cracker” all the way through ‘wild hogs’

i know theres a history behind the word nigger, but still, cant we all move on from this?

we need more people in this world who see it this way

d x

When we were Colored - we wanted equality. Some were murdered for just being. We checked off boxes that read Negro on applications, trying to have a decent living and decent wages to support our homes, churches and schools,blocked and fired for just being. We were Black and proud physically fighting for respect, equality, and a decent living for our people, our children; shackled, murdered, for just being. Then we settled for African-American. We thought we finally “made it”. We allowed our children; the ones we lived, fought and died for, to call themselves and each other Niggas and make money doing it. My oh my, all the living, dying and fighting for what? Fools gold? See, the world turns round and round, and that just makes me dizzy.