If Hip-Hop Is Dead, Why is The N-Word Still Kicking? at Racialicious

If Hip-Hop Is Dead, Why is The N-Word Still Kicking?

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson

Warning: Uncensored language in this post.

Grabbing lunch one day in my work cafeteria, I requested a bacon cheeseburger.

“Sorry,” the guy behind the counter said, “no swine.”

I nodded, but must have had a quizzical look on my face because he then asked me if I knew what swine was. I told him that I did and he asked me why I looked puzzled. I told him that saying “swine” for “bacon” is kind of like sayng “negro” for “black” - it’s correct, but that is not the word we are accustomed to hearing.

As I compared the terms, the counter guy paused.

“I’m not black, I’m a nigga.” He said.

The other two black guys around him (one behind the counter with him, the other waiting on a sandwich like I was) chuckled.

“That’s nigga, n-i-g-g-a, not er,” the other guy behind the counter clarified.

I didn’t know what to say, so I said thank you, took my swineless burger, and went back upstairs to my office.

That was last week. (Incidentally, the same week I found myself browsing a recent issue of Vibe at the newsstand and saw Mary J. Blige self-identify the same way.) I’m still thinking about why a person would reject the word black and self-identify as a nigga. (No “er” for those of y’all keeping track.)

Are we supposed to be reclaiming this word, in the vein of “queer” and “cunt?”

I have heard that argument before but I don’t quite buy into it, especially as the word still has race based negative connotations.

Carmen pointed me toward this facebook group earlier in the week. The group’s manifesto explains:

Fuck mainland guys u made beautiful educated HK pipo shameful. We are different from this disgrace peices of shits, here i clarify that these niggers are not a part of us, although they are our brothers, we dont wanna accept this brainless guys. Sometimes I see some of these retards i just wanna put my fist in their face and fuck these guys up man fuck!

[…]

I’ve even saw some nigger Mainlanders steal ketup in Mcdonalds so they dont have to buy, fuck U!! Shame on you and ur family for 5 generations…..

In her email to me, Carmen explains:

To me clearly they do it because that’s the worst possible insult they could come up with: they’re all chinese, so saying “chink” doesn’t cut it. But by relating them to blackness and using the n-word, it’s the ultimate insult.

(For those of you who erroneously think that the word nigger did not originally have racial connotations, Jabari Asim has a book for you.)

And then came the Grammy awards, with Nas and Kelis promoting an album by pretending to make a social statement (thanks Tawra for the video):

SOHH took the time to transcribe some of the comments:

“It’s all the experiences we go through every day — all ethnicities, black white, indifferent,” Nas told the CNN reporter. “We’ve all been discriminated at some point whether it’s in the Dominican Republic, whether it’s China, whether it’s Iraq where soldiers get their heads blown off for reasons we don’t know why. The meaning of the word is supposed to be ignorant, so there is money being made off us poor so-called ignorant people, no longer are black people n*ggers, today it’s also me and you.”

Appearing dumbfounded by Nas’ response, the reporter attempted to recoup by asking him about Hip-Hop Is Dead, which received a nomination for Best Rap Album, however Nas quickly made it clear that he’s tired of talking about the subject.

“That was last year, that’s been done, I appreciate all the response I got from that,” Nas said. “This is a whole other channel. That train has left the station, now I want people to think about what I’m thinking about today. There is a more current issue, with the presidential election — there is this thing that doesn’t allow black people to vote in another twenty-three years.”

Despite his emphasis on the election, Nas was careful not to make any public endorsements last night.

When asked which candidate he supports, Nas told the reporter, “Whoever can abolish this thing that doesn’t allow black people to vote after twenty three years.”

The Queens rapper isn’t the only outspoken artist in the family either, after the interview concluded, his wife, the R&B star Kelis had a few more words for the reporter.

“By the way, John Lennon had a song called ‘Woman Is The n*gger of the World’” Kelis added. “That was many years ago [and] it still hasn’t changed.”

(Pssst…Kelis. You know that song you mentioned? The one with the indifferent person involved in that, named Yoko Ono? There’s some context for that title, you know…)

The Average Bro weighed in this morning, discussing the facts behind some of the ideas spouted by Nas on the red carpet:

Uh, Earth to Nasir Jones: The Voting Rights Act is a permanent federal law, which allows the right for everyone to vote, regardless of race. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 which covers some minor pre-clearance requirement of Section 5, the authority to use federal observers, and some of the statute’s language was extended last year. I suppose it’s never too early to start worrying about it being renewed in 24 more years (not exactly the 23 noted here), but in the grand scheme of things, if that’s the biggest of your problems, then clearly you’re doing a lot better than the rest of us.

[…]

Talk about Barbershop K-Nowledge at it’s worst. Damn.

Personally, I’m still stuck on “The meaning of the word is supposed to be ignorant, so there is money being made off us poor so-called ignorant people, no longer are black people n*ggers, today it’s also me and you.”

I’m still not buying the “we’re all niggers” update to “we are the world.” I am not saying that someone somewhere can’t make an argument for why we need to reappropriate that term and embrace it as our own.

But to me, it appears that words and actions of Nas, Mary J, and the guy behind my lunch counter all make a very compelling argument for the dangers of internalizing hatespeak.

Trackbacks & Pings

Nubian Waves edition of The Erace Racism Blog Carnival on 20 Feb 2008 at 1:52 pm

[…] If Hip-Hop Is Dead, Why is The N-Word Still Kicking? - “I’m still thinking about why a person would reject the word black and self-identify as a nigga. (No “er” for those of y’all keeping track.)” [Racialicious] […]

Comments

atlasien wrote:

Great post, and I agree, I wish people would not so passively succumb to the appeal of the word. I think they realize its power, seize it as a weapon and don’t see how it’s cutting themselves as well.

By the way, one word I’ve occasionally seen is “chigger”. Not only does it combine two racial slurs, it’s also the name of a noxious biting insect! Ugh.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 10:09 am ¶
Gregory A. Butler wrote:

I’d have to agree with Average Bro - this is a perfect example of Barbershop Ideology run amok.

For those who may not be familiar with that unfortunate African American cultural phenominon, let me explain.

Go to any Black barbershop - or for that matter a bar, or even a Starbucks that has a largely Black clientele (the one on 125th and Lenox Av in Harlem would be a good example).

There is a certain type of Black male who hangs out in these places, who will express a particular type of what I call “well researched idiocy”.

Just to be clear - Barbershop Ideology is NOT an exclusively male phenominon - women believe in it too - but the guys are just a LOT more vocal about it in public, ESPECIALLY if there are 3 or more believers in Barbershop Ideology in the house.

Sooner or later, somebody will start pontificating on the so called “Willie Lynch Letter” and how all American racism past and present was somehow created by this mythical 17th century speech. This claim will be “backed up” by a quite elaborate, and often quite lengthy, pseudohistorical lecture, with all sorts of imaginary facts and urban legends presented as the actual truth.

Or you’ll hear the latest conspiracy theory about how George Bush blew up the towers (and not al-Qaeda, the folks who actually CLAIMED RESPONSIBLITY FOR IT). This outlandish claim will be backed up by all sorts of intelligent-sounding psuedostatistics and factoids.

Or you’ll hear some imaginary idealized romanticized vision of Africa’s glorious past (the whole ‘we’re the desdendents of Kings” speech). This imagneary “history” of Africa will be totally removed from any sort of historical context.

I once saw a bewildered Ethiopian couple in the above mentioned Starbucks besieged by this guy who bombarded them with questions about Ethiopian history - not the REAL history of Ethiopia, of course, but his imaginary “history” of that country - which seemed to be more an idealized vision of an imaginary past he wished for his homeland, Jamaica, and had next to nothing to do with the actual Ethiopia’s real history.

And, above all, let’s not forget about the Jews.

No Barbershop Ideologist’s worldview is complete without a healthy dose of Antisemitism (of course, if you use that word, you’ll get a 45 minute lecture on how “the Ashkinazi Jews aren’t real Semites” ).

Often this Antisemitism is borrowed almost word for word from “The Protocols of the Learned Elderss of Zion” - that 100 year old Czarist Russian police forgery that, sadly, is still believed by some to be a factual presentation of European Jewish history.

In general, many these Barbershop Ideologists are very smart people, who, thanks to institutional racism, are locked out of meaninful participation in American public and/or intellectual life.

Also, thanks to the collapse of the Civil Rights Movement and the organizations that came out of that, these folks don’t have a productive outlet for their desire to fight against American racism.

So, they retreat into an imaginary fantasy world - a sad vision, where even in the realm of imagination Blacks never get to win, the most we get is a smug sense of moral superiority over Whites, who get to rule in that world as they do in the real one.

It’s really sad that so many folks have retreated into that blind alley.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 10:46 am ¶
Karl wrote:

Re: the usage of the term, particularly in Nas’ usage of it, my main issue is that there is no corresponding systematic attempt at “reclaiming” other aspects of black life (i.e. freedom from oppression, dignity, economic wherewithal etc) . In Haiti, the official (i.e. not slang, but polite conversation) word for friend, insider, man, person, and human is “neg”, (i.e. the French word/derogatory for the word nigger- i.e. lil black thing/object/not human). The word has been “reclaimed” and was “reclaimed” when “Independence” (not complete) was won and the French/Whites initially evicted. You can not reclaim a derogatory name/insult for your people, if your people haven’t defeated or even managed to curb in any meaningful sense(by way of real consequences), the oppressing group calling you that derogatory name in the first place. Being called and addressed as “convict” isnt liberatory or endearing when your ass is locked up and the guards are in control. When you’ve made it out of the prison system and in circumstances where return is not an option, calling another ex-con “convict” is endearing and a bonding/shared experience. You can’t reclaim and empower a word without doing the same in a concrete sense for the people the word refers to first.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 11:02 am ¶
Paul wrote:

I don’t recall any poor whites being addressed as n**gers. Words like cracker and poor-white trash serve that niche. Thus, Nas is talking out his keister again.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 11:16 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:

I find it odd that this guy used the n word at all. I’m assuming he’s writing with a HKer point of view FROM HK. The slur people in HK use is “dai lok lo” (mainland guy, to put it nicely), calling someone a dai lok lo or dai lok poh (mainland woman/lady) is akin to terms like white trash or redneck in the US.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 11:57 am ¶
Allen wrote:

Never listen to what rappers have to say unless they are talking over a beat.

Otherwise, it’s usually gibberish.

Good rule for life.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 1:43 pm ¶
Colin wrote:

Allen,

“Never”…”usually”?

Logically your next sentence about how it’s gibberish should have the modifier “always”, shouldn’t it? “Usually” invalidates the “never”, does it not?

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 2:41 pm ¶
CoCo wrote:

Both Nas and Kelis have long gone down on my ‘buy-worthy’ list of artists. When they resort to using tactics like this to sell albums, it’s just not worth buying.

As for the use of the word: I’m not completely sold on the reclamation/liberation ideology nor do I think that precious time need be wasted in order to hold a “burial” for the word. To be honest, the word “Black” (or how it was defined) was considered offensive. Some people still don’t identify as “Black” because of its intended negative connotation and the fact that their skin is brown, not black. Although I embrace and identify as “Black,” I understand their point of view. I’ve gotten to the point where I think if that’s how someone else choses to self-identify, that’s on them. They do not speak for everyone, and they definately don’t speak for me. If anyone (white or otherwise) is uncertain of how to address me, I am MORE than willing to let them know.

@Paul…I’m not sure how the poor white people refer to themselves, but I live in a working class Polish/Italian neighborhood in NYC, and I’ve heard several of them my age (20’s) refer to themsleves as n**ggas. I’m just walking down the street, and one greets the other with “what up n**gga.” This is a frequent annoyance during the summer, when everyone is hanging outside. When I was in high school, a lot of the hispanic and east Asian kids would do the same. White/non-Black people calling themselves n**gga/er is nothing.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 3:42 pm ¶
Colin wrote:

Away from semantics,

Latoya, great post. Really, I know I say that often, but it’s true, at least this time (jk) it really made me squirm, so that’s good stuff.

What I feel odd about is how it’s become such shorthand for black, not just a reclamation, but it’s lazy as well. I sincerely feel, from anecdotal evidence, as I wouldn’t know where to start trying to investigate such a phenomenon, that the n-word has become easier to say than “black” or “African-American” or “brother” and “sister” for too many, myself included.

I think part of it, not at all to excuse the irresponsibility of it, is that phonetically it’s easy and another part is society has consistently been on its side. (The n-word’s side as opposed to newer alternatives)

It’s possible, thusly, that the language surrounding Af-Ams will devolve into a cycle of terms based on any number of factors, not the least of which is the political climate of the country.

I know that was a confused post, but this current course of conversation constantly confuddles and confuses me.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 3:58 pm ¶
Torontonian wrote:

(Pssst…Kelis. You know that song you mentioned? The one with the indifferent person involved in that, named Yoko Ono? There’s some context for that title, you know…)

After reading the Wikipedia article, I still don’t see why what Kelis said was wrong. I am unfamiliar with the song, but I see no contradiction. Kelis is an artist, so wouldn’t she know about music history and said context?

Also, the posted excerpt from the Facebook group made me LOL. In Canada, mainland Chinese are just as educated, if not more, than HK Chinese. Unlike (most) new HK Chinese immigrant females, (most) mainland Chinese immigrant females dress more neutral instead of all dolled-up and ultra-feminine. (There’s nothing wrong with being feminine, but I don’t like rigid gender roles.)

I thought stocking up on ketchup packs from McDonald’s was stereotypically Cantonese. Also, mainland China is huge compared to Hong Kong, so it makes less sense to make a generalization about mainland China than Hong Kong.

Furthermore, I personally think the worse-sounding accent ever is a Cantonese accent. I don’t have a problem with other types of Chinese accents. Then again, I’m a jook-sing with some internalized racism, so I may be biased.

Anyway, I agree with CoCo that people have a right to self-identify, as they are speaking only for themselves. In regards to reclaiming racial pejoratives, for some people, the oppressing group is no longer relevant in certain circumstances, and one’s personal definition is more real and valid. Jook-sing? What kind of insult is that, which is based on stupid reasoning? Black used to be an insult. Again, what kind of insult is that? Some people still call others ‘dark’ as an insult, and it just makes me laugh or pity them.

Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 11:21 pm ¶
Cynthia wrote:

Torontonian,

I think there’s a difference between Mainland Chinese who come to Canada and those who go to Hong Kong. HK Mainland Chinese are probably less well-off, since it’s much cheaper to get there. That’s why Hong Kongers think Mainlanders are trash. Of course, there are also those wealthy/new money types who buy all the expensive brands, yet have no manners too (my mom’s friend claimed she saw a man squat while wearing an Armani suit. She said that the guy was likely a mainlander because no Hong Kong man would do that sort of thing.)

As for the ketchup thing: Maybe Hong Kong should start using ketchup dispensers like we have in Canada. I’m pretty sure you can’t get packaged ketchup unless you’re getting the meal to go.

Posted 15 Feb 2008 at 9:05 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

One of the things I did not mention in the piece is that people who do go into this line of argument generally don’t have much to add positively in a conversation. Like with Mary J - she was talking about meeting Oprah, and Oprah said something about how Mary J wasn’t what she expected. It was a strange comment coming from Oprah, but Mary decided to shed some light on it, saying that she didn’t think Oprah would like her because she was a nigga. Doesn’t sound too positive.

Or the guys in the sandwich shop. They remind me of many other people I know, who will continually argue about the significance of the “er” versus the “a” and never can tell you why they identify that way in the first place.

Atlasien - good idea about power. Very true, from what I have observed.

Colin - It is quite confusing. Like Coco said, people should self-identify as they choose. But I don’t see too many other ethnic groups trying to reclaim their slurs as loudly and as publicly as we do. People can make their own choices, but I wonder how much of this “choice” is made because the word is so prevalent.

Torontonian -

I have two main issues with Kelis’s comment. (1) While Yoko Ono and John Lennon were on the track, just saying John Lennon obscures what Yoko Ono convinced him of and what she was trying to do. Lennon is more famous, but most people associate him with the Beatles. For someone who did not know about Yoko Ono and her feminist leanings it would be easy to misconstrue the comment. (2) It is a very provocative title for a song, which was Yoko’s way of bringing attention to the needs of women around the world. For Kelis to just throw the song title in as a half-hearted reference, with no further explanation, makes it seem more like a quick publicity hit than trying to spark a dialogue or interest about the original song.

Posted 15 Feb 2008 at 9:16 am ¶
Roger Green wrote:

Green Eggs and Ham won some library award, so I went to find the Jesse Jackson reading of same on YouTube, which has been there for quite a while (audio-pretty good; video-not so much.) . In recent days, the racist crap there , and retorts to same - and yes, I mean the N-word in its demeaning intent - is all over there.

Posted 15 Feb 2008 at 2:34 pm ¶
DivergentDana wrote:

Ah, the YouTube comments… post-racial America’s verbal cesspool. Trust, there is no video that even tangentially features a well-known black person that is devoid of nasty racial sentiments. Hell, someone dropped the N-bomb in the comments for a Serj Tankian video. When I first saw the Nas pictures, I thought “this is when he’s going to be penalized (rightly, imo) for being considered smarter than the average bear”. If he were just a mainstream rapper that largely trafficked in frivolity, he might get an ignorance/”what did you expect, really” pass, but not Nas, the “thinking man’s rapper”. He knows what he’s doing, everyone knows that he knows, and he’s going to alienate his fan base while simultaneously looking like a total publicity whore. Folks were waiting with baited breath for an explanation, and the one that he gave was total butt. It’s a shame that his wife decided to support him in this endeavor… “when keeping it real goes wrong”, indeed.

Posted 19 Feb 2008 at 8:09 am ¶
DivergentDana wrote:

And my father subscribes to many tenets of Barbershop Ideology! I never knew it had a name… at home, we just call it “crazy.”

Posted 19 Feb 2008 at 8:14 am ¶
Orville wrote:

I think this is a desperate marketing and attention grabbing act by Nas. Nas record sales have gone down and one way artists such as Nas wants to keep himself in the public eye is to do something controversial, get the publicity. It is all about record sales. I am surprised Kelis is in on this too. I know Kelis is Nas’s wife but I always found her to be so intelligent and informed about issues compared to other artists. I got to say I think it is kind of sad to see these two talented artists being so desperate.

Posted 19 Feb 2008 at 10:08 am ¶
marge twain wrote:

Just…so….wrong….
When there are so few PoCs getting media attention they ought to own up to the responsibility that their celebrity confers and not reinforce ugly stereotypes. My first reaction when I saw those pics was to almost spit out my coffee. My second was “What does this look like to white people?”
Those two have too much talent for this publicity stunt.

Posted 21 Feb 2008 at 5:57 pm ¶