Current Events > What's your take on the N word in rap music?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Can only blacks say it?
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I took a poetry class in grad school and used several rap songs from NWA, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, and Wu Tang as poems for some assignments because they actually did some really cool stuff from a traditional poetry perspective back then. I usually just n*****'d that stuff. Don't need to be dropping N bombs even though it was just me, some white chicks, and a whole bunch of Iranians.
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I don't think anyone should say it. I lose interest in almost every song if they say shit like that, it just makes it feel like generic machismo bullshit.
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Not a fan
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Hexenherz posted...

I don't think anyone should say it. I lose interest in almost every song if they say shit like that, it just makes it feel like generic machismo bullshit.

Even 2 Pac?
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They claimed it was them taking the word back but whats the point, if they still get offended when its used by other people still? It shouldn't be used at all.

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I don't think anyone should say it, at all, in any context. It's clear that it's offensive and racist, I don't understand the need to let the word live on at all even if a letter at the end is changed.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixxKKPkxz5o" data-time="
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Austin_Era_II posted...

Hexenherz posted...

I don't think anyone should say it. I lose interest in almost every song if they say shit like that, it just makes it feel like generic machismo bullshit.

Even 2 Pac?

Admittedly haven't heard much 2 Pac.

I guess I can tolerate or perhaps even appreciate if it's done artfully in a criticism of society being oppressive.

But in my experience it's usually *not* used that way.
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Iggy Azalea can pull it off.
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I don't understand since the word is considered racist by others but they think it's okay only for them to say it. Mind you there are several black people who hate it too and dislike black people for saying it.

The same applies for people using it in the film industry.
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this topic is dumb and somehow every post in it is dumber
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Lol white people historically have used it to degrade us, and now that over recent decades black people have tried to reclaim the word for their own usage, white people want to ban the word "for everyone".

And even at that if someone white gets caught saying the N-word they don't keep the same energy and try to justify it or downplay it
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High school poetry classes around the world : Yeats, Milton, Byron, Blake, Alighieri, Schiller, Rilke, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Pushkin etc.

High school poetry classes in America : NWA, Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan etc.
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I refuse to believe that anyone older than like 15 doesn't understand to some degree the difference between a white person and a black person saying the n word. Maybe also people with developmental disorders, but beyond that it's legitimately a child's view of the situation to go "Why can they say it but I'm not allowed?"

I could grasp it as a kid and I was not especially smart or anything. You can too
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Austin_Era_II posted...

I don't understand since the word is considered racist by others but they think it's okay only for them to say it. Mind you there are several black people who hate it too and dislike black people for saying it.

The same applies for people using it in the film industry.

this isn't anything new; people have always reacted differently to how they were referred to by members of their "in-group" and how they were referred to by "outsiders"
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No one should use it.

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Why did you post this topic on 3 different boards
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I posted here and Rap board. Just curious to know what peoples views are.
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DarthWendy posted...

High school poetry classes around the world : Yeats, Milton, Byron, Blake, Alighieri, Schiller, Rilke, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Pushkin etc.

High school poetry classes in America : NWA, Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan etc.

bold (and racist) of you to assume that
1. you can't study both
2. there isn't merit to studying the latter

same thing as in To Kill a Mockingbird

intent matters
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I don't give a shit who uses it. We need to get the fuck over it.
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Hexenherz posted...

Austin_Era_II posted...

Hexenherz posted...

I don't think anyone should say it. I lose interest in almost every song if they say shit like that, it just makes it feel like generic machismo bullshit.

Even 2 Pac?

Admittedly haven't heard much 2 Pac.

I guess I can tolerate or perhaps even appreciate if it's done artfully in a criticism of society being oppressive.

But in my experience it's usually *not* used that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg16QOZJOV8" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqJPpyExJCM" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVHzr_cXKKs" data-time="
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PowerfulSageIRL posted...

DarthWendy posted...

High school poetry classes around the world : Yeats, Milton, Byron, Blake, Alighieri, Schiller, Rilke, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Pushkin etc.

High school poetry classes in America : NWA, Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan etc.

bold (and racist) of you to assume that
1. you can't study both
2. there isn't merit to studying the latter

How does racism have anything to do with the relevance of educational material studied in a poetry class ? I was merely pointing out some discrepancies. Of course you can study both. But it so happens that I'm not aware of such thing in, say, Europe. I don't recall any poetry class where after the Iliad, we followed up with Eminem.
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i've said it once and i'll say it again, aave is the parisian french of american english dialects - you either know it or you don't, and if you didn't grow up with it, folks will know right off the bat and you'll be called out

if you didn't grow up in the hood, just don't use the word - regardless of your ethnic background

if you're not black and grew up immersed in aave, your friends might let you get away with it in their company, but it's asking for trouble otherwise

au_gold posted...

Iggy Azalea can pull it off.

no

she really can't

her lyrics are an utter bastardization of aave and she should be ashamed of herself
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It's fun to say, but it's quite annoying.
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"I just think NOBODY should be able to say it" - White People

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A word's meaning doesnt change based on the skin color of the person saying it

Either everyone can say it or nobody should. The latter is probably better for society

DoubleDare posted...

They claimed it was them taking the word back but whats the point, if they still get offended when its used by other people still? It shouldn't be used at all.

Yes, all black people share a hive mind and believe the exact same thing
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Comfy_Pillow posted...

A word's meaning doesnt change based on the skin color of the person saying it

Either everyone can say it or nobody should. The latter is probably better for society

Context and connotation are a thing, you have no idea what you're talking about and should shut up.
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Comfy_Pillow posted...

A word's meaning doesnt change based on the skin color of the person saying it

Either everyone can say it or nobody should. The latter is probably better for society

it's one of the most context-sensitive words in the english language

just because you should be free to do so doesn't mean you should
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DarthWendy posted...

I don't recall any poetry class where after the Iliad, we followed up with Eminem.

Eminem is trash and hasn't put out a good album in over 15 years.
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I dunno. I listen to plenty of rap with the word, and though I never rap along with it I think it's ridiculous for artists to get offended when white people do so at concerts. (Looking at you, Kendrick Lamar.)

Wu-Tang Clan seems cool with it. From their official YouTube account:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eGO2U5VlCw" data-time="
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Alright I will take the bait and attempt to respond seriously. Please note that I just pulled most of this stuff out of my ass, and it's just me theorizing - so if anything below is wrong (it probably is), don't freak out.

Anyway

I just assumed that it became a thing because in the slavery days, blacks didn't have a solid understanding of the American English language.

You'll notice that Southern black dialects are usually very choppy. Eg: slurred words, words running together, words pronounced wrong, words skipped mid sentence, etc.

Southern dialect is already pretty shoddy to begin with (eg: shit like "yall" and "ain't"; "Ass cream" instead of "Ice cream", etc.)

so when white Southerners were already improperly speaking the language around people who weren't literate and weren't allowed to become literate, the slaves weren't able to really know that that most of what they were saying was being incorrectly spoken.

And since they were always being called the n word, it probably just got mixed in with the shoddy understanding of the English language. I'm sure many early slaves probably didn't even know that it was supposed to be an offensive term, and called each other that word at times because that was just how they understood the language.

Carry that tradition of not being allowed to read or write properly due to the racial laws at the time, and not being taught how to correctly speak, and it just gets embedded into the overall dialect after many generations.

Notice that it historically has mostly been a thing in poor neighborhoods - aka neighborhoods where the overall intelligence and ability to read was already naturally low, and these local dialects have many of the exact same issues as Southern dialects.

Once rap got popular late 80's/early 90's, well, it just got mixed in with regular ebonics and slang that again, were all a part of the poor neighborhoods that had mostly incorrect ways of speaking (except now you've got code words due to things like drugs, gang violence, etc). Since these misconstrued dialects now had mainstream exposure, they got adopted by people heavily into hip hop culture. And the n word was a part of those dialects, so it got mixed in with the rest of the gang slang/ebonics.

That being said, I think everyone on this website knows that we will never ever live in a world where the word never gets used, so it really doesn't matter what anyone's thoughts are on who uses it.

However whites would probably do best to not say it around blacks who are very heavy into hip hop/black culture, as not all are understanding about it, and they generally won't find out which ones are cool with it until it's too late.
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Comfy_Pillow posted...

A word's meaning doesnt change based on the skin color of the person saying it

Either everyone can say it or nobody should. The latter is probably better for society

Must be a white guy
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MasterGakke posted...

Comfy_Pillow posted...

A word's meaning doesnt change based on the skin color of the person saying it

Either everyone can say it or nobody should. The latter is probably better for society

Context and connotation are a thing, you have no idea what you're talking about and should shut up.

Thanks for the vacuous non statement

pauIie posted...

Comfy_Pillow posted...

A word's meaning doesnt change based on the skin color of the person saying it

Either everyone can say it or nobody should. The latter is probably better for society

Must be a white guy

Must be a strawman

DarthWendy posted...

High school poetry classes around the world : Yeats, Milton, Byron, Blake, Alighieri, Schiller, Rilke, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Pushkin etc.

High school poetry classes in America : NWA, Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan etc.

I mean... Wu Tang are the superior poets tbh. As are many Hip Hop artists (not NWA and Cypress Hill though).
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Ludacris01 posted...

so when white Southerners were already improperly speaking the language around people who weren't literate and weren't allowed to become literate, the slaves weren't able to really know that that most of what they were saying was being incorrectly spoken.

ok so this is a major issue with your theorizing. different dialects are not "improper", they're just different. "proper" language is a concept invented by royalty so they could look down on the commoners. it's not an actual thing that exists

And since they were always being called the n word, it probably just got mixed in with the shoddy understanding of the English language. I'm sure many early slaves probably didn't even know that it was supposed to be an offensive term, and called each other that word at times because that was just how they understood the language.

this is false.

the n word was largely used by slave owners, but was especially used to refer to slaves that were troublesome or disobedient. because of that, it took on a different context among the slaves: being troublesome or disobedient towards slave owners was an act of resistance

If a white person says it with a hard R they go to Hell

If they say it without the hard R, just Purgatory
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MabusIncarnate posted...

I don't think anyone should say it, at all, in any context. It's clear that it's offensive and racist, I don't understand the need to let the word live on at all even if a letter at the end is changed.

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Anyone can say it, anyone can get dropped for it.
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Listen to Cassidy I'ma Hustla

What a shit fucking topic
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CookieMarvin posted...

this topic is dumb and somehow every post in it is dumber

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Comfy_Pillow posted...

pauIie posted...

Comfy_Pillow posted...

A word's meaning doesnt change based on the skin color of the person saying it

Either everyone can say it or nobody should. The latter is probably better for society

Must be a white guy

Must be a strawman

i'm not arguing you though. making a conclusion about you based off something you actually said. i could be wrong about you, but that's not what i understand what a strawman is.
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She had to leave Los Angeles
All her toys wore out in black and her boys had too
She started to hate every n***** and Jew
Every Mexican that gave her a lotta shit
Every homosexual and the idle rich

X- Los Angeles

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Austin_Era_II posted...

Can only blacks say it?

Yes.
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