Nas And the "N" word

I have a true confession; a white man has never called me a nigger to my face. (Notice I said to my face). But I have been called nigger a time or two by black people, some of them even friends of mine.

If you read this blog you know where I stand on trying to do away with that word. It's bullshit! You can't say you are going to ban a word by passing legislation, having a funeral for the word, or having black celebrities and so called leaders declare that the word is from now on not to be used by black folks. "We hereby declare that we will never use the "N" word again." Yeah, OK, whatever.

Now for the record, I don't use the word, because I honestly don't think it's a necessary part of my vocabulary. I can usually find quite a few other words to use in its place. And honestly, I would prefer if us black folks never used the word either. White folks, you should feel that way too. Think of all the white people that would be saved from getting their asses kicked for using it around us, just because they heard one of us use it and thought it was cool.

I though about this nigger issue, because the popular rapper, Nas, is dropping a new album, and I think the title of it will be "Nigger." (Although Def Jam might have something to say about that) Isn't Russel Simmons the President of Def Jam? Wasn't he all over the place recently talking about banning the "N" word? As my girl Angie would say; I am just saying.

So anyway, read the following excerpt from MTV news:

"I'm a street disciple," Nas responded, quoting one of his earlier album titles. "I'm talking to the streets. Stay out of our business. You ain't got no business worrying about what the word 'nigger' is or acting like you know what my album is about without talking to me. Whether you in the NAACP or you Jesse Jackson. I respect all of them ... I just want them to know: Never fall victim to Fox. Never fall victim to the sh-- they do. What they do is try to hurry up and get you on the phone and try to get you to talk about something you might not know about yet.

"If Cornel West was making an album called Nigger, they would know he's got something intellectual to say," Nas continued. "To think I'm gonna say something that's not intellectual is calling me a nigger, and to be called a nigger by Jesse Jackson and the NAACP is counterproductive, counter-revolutionary."

Nas said he hasn't talked to anyone outside his camp about the title, so he was upset to see that people are up in arms without knowing the story behind him choosing the name.
"I wanna make the word easy on mutha----as' ears," he explained. "You see how white boys ain't mad at 'cracker' 'cause it don't have the same [sting] as 'nigger'? I want 'nigger' to have less meaning [than] 'cracker.' With all the bullsh-- that's going on in the world, racism is at its peak. I wanna do the sh-- that's not being done. I wanna be the artist who ain't out. I wanna make the music I wanna hear.

"We're taking power [away] from the word," he added. "No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil-rights movement, but some of my n---as in the streets don't know who [civil-rights activist] Medgar Evers was. I love Medgar Evers, but some of the n---as in the streets don't know Medgar Evers, they know who Nas is. And to my older people who don't now who Nas is and who don't know what a street disciple is, stay outta this mutha----in' conversation. We'll talk to you when we're ready. Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power [away] from that word."

It's nice to see that Nas is familiar with his history enough to know about Medgar Evers, and that he understands the nuances associated with the use of the word. Not to mention his recognition of people like Jessie Jackson and Cornel West in the debate. Besides, he calls out Jessie for being on FOX which gets him brownie points from the field.

Still, I wish Nas and his street disciples would hurry up and work on that movement so that they can talk to us. Because honestly, we want to take power away from the word too, and some of of us realize that we can't do it without them.

Biggie And The White Boy

I am out of printing paper at home. I need lots and lots of printing paper for my side hustle what can I tell you. I run out at least once a month. I am heading to my whip in the parking lot of the Office Depot after stocking up, and there is some serious ass Biggie Smalls on someones car radio. )))))))a nigga never been as broke as me, I like that When I had two pair of Lees, besides that...((((((( I recognize the tune "Sky Is The Limit", damn that shit sounds good. So I look around as the music and the car gets closer, and I'll be damn if it isn't a white boy. The
young head is looking at me and head nodding, and for a brief moment we make eye contact while he waits for my acknowledgment of his bumping ass sound system. (He must have seen me rocking my head to that shit) But I can't acknowledge, I know the album he is playing, and I know some of the lyrics, and I am thinking; "what the f**k is he doing listening to this shit?"

But how stupid am I? Long after he is gone, along with the sound of biggie and the bumping ass base line, I am thinking about why I couldn't acknowledge my melanin challenged friend. I am stupid, because Biggie's albums have sold millions, and like other hit making rappers, most of his sales are made to white kids and not black kids from the inner city. And the truth is, I have heard white kids bumping rap from their cars before, and yes the "N" word was prominent in those lyrics too. I don't know, call it a post Imus consciousness, but the shit actually made me feel uncomfortable.

Still, I am not going to join the rap pile on crew. Truth be told, I love rap music, I have written about it on this blog before, long before Imus and his NHH comments. But lately I haven't been feeling most of the stuff coming from the ranks of the hip hop artist out here. ("Nas" might be right, maybe hip hop is dead).....well I take that back. When I hear Baby Huey from the "Lue" telling my ass to "pop lock and drop it" my old ass is up and locking. Yes I love that song so sue me. But I digress. So even though I can't pile on the rap artist, I have a dilemma. I keep asking myself if it's because I don't like the music coming from the artists these days? Is it the Imus thing? Or have I just become more sensitive and aware of the responsibility certain artists have to their community?

This is tough for me, because I pretty much believe that artist should be free to sing, write and perform whatever they want. If you don't like it, then turn it off. So I am not feeling this call for a ban on the "N" word. It just smacks of censorship to me. Do I wish that hip hop artists wouldn't go there? Of course I do. Hey, I don't want to feel uncomfortable when some young white kid gets a pass to say "nigger" to my face just because it's in a song. Or some ignorant ass old white man thinks he is being cute by trying to imitate shit from our culture.

So what do we do? Honestly, I am more of a beats than a lyrics guy myself.- Although I appreciate a nice flow as much as the next guy. I try to know as much about the producers behind these dudes as I do the rappers themselves. So if there is a bumping beat and the rapper sings "Mary Had A Little Lamp" I would probably still be feeling that shit. In my world, the lyrics that demean, and the "N" word is not necessary for a hit. But I am starting to suspect that some of these same white suburban kids that eat this stuff up now, would not be heading to the record stores after they get their allowance money if the lyrics were to change. I guarantee you, they probably wouldn't touch the cleaned up CD's with a ten foot pole. And that's the problem. We are depending on these kids to stop buying these CD's which would cause the record companies and the artists to change their marketing strategies or lose money. Well in my humble opinion, this will never happen.

When that kid was looking at me in the Office Depot parking lot he was saying; see I am one of you, I can bump this shit, because I know what's up. We are kindred spirits you and I. You the big bald headed black man, and me the young white kid in the sports car.

Well we are not kindred spirits, and if we did have something in common, it wasn't this. Yeah I love and respect "Big" for his contribution to the game, (Hell his mother is from the "Rock" for crying out loud!) just like you do. But don't get it twisted that is where our commonality ends. And not "Big", not "Pac", Not "U Roy", or any other rapper, will be able to bring us together over a f*****g song.