So I’m listening to 92.3 driving through Baltimore the other day and after the Fat Joe single, “I Won’t Tell” which is an aight track (although 50 clowned him for it hahaha) but in the song he states that “I’ma real nigga and real niggas do real things” yet last time I checked he was Puerto Rican. So the DJs asked the same question that I’m asking ‘Does Fat Joe get a pass for sayin the N word?’. I was surprised to hear that most callers actually gave this pass to Fat Joe claiming all kinds of reasoning, from ‘Puerto Ricans have African blood in em’ to ‘Fat Jidididido is that dude and ya’ll need to stop hatin’. I think the callers will be cause for a totally different discussion but I mean, as I promised I am now getting on DJ ‘NIGGA WE DABEEEESSSSSSSS’ Khaled.
Now let me start by saying that I use the word(s) nigga, nigger, neegah (the African interpretation), and any other derivation of it and honestly, I wish I didn’t, but I can also pinpoint the reason I use it and the first time I ever heard it, told my mom about it and was not told that it wasn’t ok to use. I don’t say that to defend or justify my use of it, but the fact is, the word is one that has been embedded in African American culture for generations and was honestly passed down. No offense to all the Latinos that use it but it ain’t the same, I’m sorry. And as for Khaled, I’m not sure what his nationality is but clearly he’s been given a pass by Rick Ross, Trick Daddy and whichever other MIA artists he works with. What’s the deal though, is this cool? Accepted? I remember a few years ago they got on J-Lo for usin it on the song she had with Ja-Rule, so why is it ok for Joey Crack to use it now? They both Puerto Rican, both from the Bronx, Eminem and Paul Wall sure find it easy not to use and I KNOW that Paul Wall grew up around some people that would let him use it. So what’s the determining factor here? Personally, I think we should drop the word altogether but I also don’t think people should smoke cigarettes etc, so who am I to be the judge. What’s good my ni…?
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
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3 comments:
You are definitely opening up a very controversial and heated topic that I'm sure many people have been waiting to have. Personally, I don't use the word. Something about it doesn't feel right to me. I used to say it all the time, and one day I realized that I needed to stop. When I'm singing a song that uses the word, I still don't say it. And it makes me uncomfortable when I'm in a professional environment and I hear black people using it with the excuse that they can cause "I'm black!"
I have however changed my view on others using it. Nas brought up a very valid point in his discussion regarding his album Nigger, saying that it's no disresepct to the people who fought not to be labeled as such a heinous word, but it's to take the power away. We've heard that "taking the power away" discussion time and time again, and it used to piss me off. But this time I really listened to the message. When Fat Joe or any non-black person uses it in a rhyme or whatever, it's not said with the same malice. So should it be considered the same word?
It's true that no other word in American history is so imflammatory. But if we want to stop being mad everytime someone calls us that whose job is it gonna be to make that happen, to take the power away? I'm still on the fence about the word. Especially because I think Fat Joe wouldn't take kindly to being called a spic or wetback and its right up the same alley. It's so much easier not to understand the pain when it isnt referring to you. But, I don't get as upset when I hear it in the streets, or on songs anymore. So maybe the rappers ARE slowly making strides towards that goal.
And anybody who truly wishes NOT to use the word, just stop using it. It's a very slight modification in your speech.
This is deep. So lets clear up a few things first. 1. Jushh (IM FEMALE).
2. There is a strong African influence in a lot of Latino Cultures, which is why I never really understood why some cultures in the Latino community looked down on blacks, and thought they were better than blacks. Actually I take that back, I understand why. Its the same reason blacks were enslaved, BECAUSE OUR SKIN WAS DARKER.
3. I disagree with using the N word. I disagree with the justification of blacks for using the N word. "Taking back power", "its spelled differently", "it has a different meaning"... First of all, how does it take back power when you just changed the spelling of it? Did blacks create the word? We use a word that was used to degrade blacks and let us know that we were nothing. Removing the ER and adding an A is like removing the H from the word WHAT and telling me if means something else. WAT difference does it make? I think anyone who uses the word N#gga has a right to, because blacks use it all the time. If my own community uses it, Im not going to be mad at an Asian, Indian, LATINO, OR WHITE PERSON for using it, until members of my own community have removed it from their vocabulary.
I agree with G, if you choose to stop something you can stop. Its one word.
1) KStorm (my bad, lol)
2) I personally don't use the word and i have the same historical relationship with the word like G (used, to say it, felt wrong, then stopped). I also think its wrong when anyone says it but i won't judge them either. I know that when certain people say that they mean it as a term of endearment and i don't think those people are disingenuous.
However, this word is like no other word in the english language and it speaks to a "second-class" citizenship that in some way, still exists in this country. We as black people are not far along enough in this country "image-wise" to change the meaning of a word. Eventhough we might want to change the word, too many of us still run around actin like niggers. Saying "what up my nigga (in a positive way)" to me in front of the corner store while rollin' dice and smokin' weed is counter productive. No one will ever see that word as meaning anything different until we change our behavior and our image. I'm all down for a definition change but we have to change first.
Can we live with 2 definitions? Possibly, but until we can have more control over how black people are viewed in this country, a "positive" meaning for nigger will always play second fiddle.
Because so many people literally died over the word, i feel we owe it to them and not allow it into our lives. But who am I to decide?
Peace
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