Reply #42: There are some serious problems [View All]

[hiphopnation]

with some of the images and stereotypes that are promulgated in the entire hiphop oeuvre (especially of late), no doubt.

But, much as the blues and jazz helped to spur world-wide musical and cultural revolutions, hiphop has moved far beyond music and race in its scope, as well as beyond the borders of the United States. It's changed clothing, language, music, race-relations (for the better or worse, depending where you fall in that argument) and a myriad of other areas in society. (On a side note, what happens when you've got young Asian kids calling each other "my nigga"? What is the nature of the word in that context?)

The word is contentious and arguably, damaging. But it is but a very small fraction of the larger hiphop revolution, one that has helped force issues of race, gender, & class politics in the modern musical lexicon. In a sense, it is the new folk music.

If white people are still scratching their heads wondering how blacks can still get a way with calling each other "that word" then, IMHO, it's use in that context is still relevant.

As I said earlier, if white people want to experiment with how caustic the black community still finds the word, by all means, go ahead and try and use it with a black friend. See what happens.

If your abandoning of hiphop was not solely due to the use of the word, then you must also know to what minuscule extent the word is part of the larger foundational definition of hiphop.