Would you be offended

[bigted]

Yeah like the way Will said f*** in "Tell Me Why" was there for emotion but he bleeped it out on the final cut, he could call that a gospel song if he wants to and it'd be true 'cause he had the conscious to bleep it out, 2Pac changed the words to some his songs to radio 'cause he also cared about the audience listening to appropriate music on the radio.

[Schnazz]

In the original question, would I be offended if a white rapper said "my n----" ? No. I think it would be stupid, but not offensive. The reason being is that words depending on context. If you have some white person saying "n----", then one would suspect that he/she is a racist individual. That's because, for many years, when a white person said "n----", he/she generally did intend it to be racist. However, the additional context of this white person being a rapper and using it as "my n----" kinda trumps white context. "My n----" coming from the mouth of a rapper is very obviously intended to be used as slang. So, it doesn't seem offensive. Stupid yes, un-needed yes, but offensive? Na.

However, at the end of the day, while logically it's not offensive, many, many, many people will find it offensive, simply because of it's history and it's originally meaning.

A while back I was ranting about my dislike for "that's so gay", so I thought I'd comment on why I find the use of "gay" wrong, but I just think that the use of "n----" (as used in the original post) is mearly stupid. In "that's gay", 'gay' is being used as a synonym for 'bad', however 'n----' is being used as a synonym for 'friend' or maybe 'man' or something similar. That's the main reason why I differentiate between the two.

[bigted]

Basically the way you're raised is the way you act, my parents take time out to teach me values to think before I talk but there's peeps out there that live in a single parent household and they run the streets all day so they say or do what they want, so you can't really blame them for cursing so much but if all of a sudden I started cursing a lot my parents would be upset with me 'cause they know I don't usually talk like that but maybe some other rappers out there might do that since their parents don't care about them, but rappers like Will Smith and Chuck D grew up in a household where their parents would teach them values like I get taught in mine, I feel like I could relate to them in that aspect, I mean if my mama took a look at my rap notebook and I was cursing like a sailor in it she'd throw it away, lol, but I don't do that, there's certain songs that I can't blast on my stereo either 'cause my parents don't like hearing so many curses, I could bump Public Enemy and KRS-ONE albums and they're cool with that since they ain't cursing like every 5 seconds and all their songs have messages to them, hip-hop needs to go back to where you could play songs that the whole family can enjoy, Chuck D talks about the joy that he and his family shared listening to Aretha Franklin and James Brown while he was growing up, his parents, grandparents, and him would enjoy it all and not be offended, you can't blast 50 Cent and have the whole family enjoy it though 'cause some would be offended, hip-hop is supposed to be for everybody. I don't say n**** 'cause that's disrespect towards my ancestors no matter what way it's put, it's about having pride to stand up for what you believe in. I wasn't really trying to be hard on Kanye in that last post either, he might just be a lil' ignorant about that and that's not his fault, maybe his mama doesn't mind if he says n***, but people criticise Will for cursing in his movies since he tells rappers to not curse in their songs but they gotta realise that Will didn't write the script, he's a songwriter and music you can control so if Kanye, Nas, and every other rapper that says n*** in their songs want to make a conscious effort not to say it in their songs they can 'cause they're the songwriters that have the final say in their art.

Edited August 29, 2005 by bigted

[KevTastic]

It does depend on which context, but controversy would occur no matter what,

[Turntable]

The best thing is when a White Guy like Fat Joe say`s in a line that he`s the only real Nigga in the game!

He actualy say`s stuff like that allot :lolsign:

[Mike]

isnt he hispanic?

[Turntable]

isnt he hispanic?

He`s latin...I have much italian blod but i wouldn`t`cal my self black tho lol

[bigted]

Fat Joe's puerto rican, I think Big Pun was too, they use the n word a lot probably 'cause they hang around a lot of black people.

[Turntable]

Fat Joe's puerto rican, I think Big Pun was too, they use the n word a lot probably 'cause they hang around a lot of black people.

Yes..But still.. :lolsign:

[Jonny 5]

here's my 2 pence on the situation... it kinda fits in with my chinky/paki view. As far as I know when white people use words like nigga/chinky/paki they were originally and still very often used in a derogatory sense. Personally I never say any of these words. People often agrue back with stuff like "Yeah but if you call someone from Scotland a 'Scot' then it's ok to call someone from pakistan a 'Paki'" that just doesn't fit in because as far as I know, 'Scot' was never a derogatorily used term...

Mostly that's because I grew up in London where there's a total mix of people and nobody ever said anything as far as I was aware. But now living up north in the countryside these words are used waaay more. It's probably because you very very rarely see anyone who's not white, so there's nobody there to offend when people use the words. For example, I worked today and probably saw thousands of people, everyone was white. I dread to think what will happen when people round start spreading their wings and moving to the big cities, they're gonna have to watch their step...

[Cozmo D]

Here in NYC (where Fat Joe and Big Pun are from) Puerto Ricans do not consider themselves apart from blacks for the most part. The N word is used widely by Hispanics here and no black who also uses the word regularly would think twice about it.

It has also picked up greatly in usage among white youth here, and seems to be mostly overlooked by blacks and Hispanics as long as the usage is positive.

Personally, I have always hated the word and frown on it's usage by the rappers I work with, regardless of race. They're gonna do them anyway though. I do admit though, that I come down hardest about it with Apathy, who's white, simply because his boys may understand, but a LOT of people won't. He never listens anyway.

[JumpinJack AJ]

Yeah kinda amusing how Fat Joe and Big Pun get away with using the N-word....but then when J. Lo did it on the remix of "I'm Real," people tripped.

Half of my friends are black...and i would never even consider using that word. Most of them wouldn't care if i used it jokingly either...it's just not something that's cool 2 do.

[bigted]

Yeah they came down on J-Lo hard for that, maybe 'cause she has a clean Hollywood image, I mean if Will started saying the n word, the media might flip on him for that too, I don't personally use the word even though I'm black, on the most part though I think a lot of peeps in hip-hop don't use the n word as a negative thing, it's just another way of saying homie to them, like what up my n, I'm the realest n in the game, I ride with my ns, etc, I prefer to say brother or homie though, it sounds smarter.

[Turntable]

I think a lot of peeps in hip-hop don't use the n word as a negative thing, it's just another way of saying homie to them, like what up my n, I'm the realest n in the game, I ride with my ns, etc, I prefer to say brother or homie though, it sounds smarter.

Yeah ofcourse..Just look at the R.Kelly Song "I Wish"!

[PeaceAngel]

When I was in 5th grade, I had a friend named Brittany, and she was black. One day at recess, a group of 3rd graders came up to her and said stuff like "Hey you fat n*****! You don't belong here, go away..." just a bunch of rude stuff. She cried for the rest of the day, it was so sad. Everyone was trying to comfort her and everything. So I really don't like that word. I know most people don't use that word to offend people very much now, but I don't like the word because of what it meant in the beginning, like what happened to Brittany. I don't think anyone should use that word at all for any use.