Words Don't Belong To Everyone: The Power In Being A Hip-Hop Fan And Never Using The N-Word

Last Wednesday, Barstool Sports was forced to fire Ben Mintz, an extremely talented poker player/content creator, after he mistakenly sang the n-word on livestream.

For context, Mintz was premiering his show, Wake Up Mintzy on livestream and was reading the words to Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony’s “1st of tha Month” (absolute slapper, go listen) when he let the racial slur slip. It was incredibly egregious. Just flat out stupid. He said the ONE thing not a single human can deny should never be said by any non-Black person.

But it seemed pretty clear there was zero intention or malice behind the words. He turned Casper the Ghost white and was apparently in shambles for days. Penn still chose to fire him. While they justified the firing as necessary for preserving the gambling juggernaut’s licenses, this was likely an attempt to placate Dave Portnoy. It’s more likely that Penn just didn’t want to deal with the negative backlash that was certain to come – in the terms of their merger was a zero tolerance policy for things like this.

Should a man lose his livelihood because of an honest mistake?? Can you even call saying that word a mistake?? I don’t know. I’m not in that position so I can’t make that call. What I do know is that white people singing (or saying) the n-word has become a problem.

In 2017 a fan was booed off stage at a Kendrick Lamar concert after "not bleeping” the word. In 2018 a video of some sorority chicks from UNH went viral when they used the word while singing along to “Gold Digger” by Kanye West (understandable but still). Clearly there’s some disconnect. And I am not faulting anyone. But one thing is for sure: White people MUST abandon this word altogether (including in song) and stop complaining if Black people don't. Here's why:

Racist Origins and Surviving Slavery

There’s no denying the history of this ugly, ugly word – a powerful linguistic tool of racism. Arising during slavery, the term was used by racists and slaveowners who seized every opportunity to dehumanize and degrade Black people. Use of the word was meant to intimidate Blacks and emphasize what was believed to be their physical, moral, and intellectual inferiority. The reality that emerged was that anyone that was Black was categorized as a "negro" and likewise, was deemed unworthy of basic human rights.

Somewhere along the line, “n-gga became a term that Africans used to refer to themselves and companions in the struggle to survive,” according to Miami University professor and linguist Jacquelyn Rahman. Collectively referring to themselves as that word gave them an identity. They may have been subhuman beasts of burden in the eyes of white slaveowners but amongst themselves, they were physically and emotionally strong beings who would survive the extremely wicked actions of their oppressors.

This survivor mentality still exists and is apparent in Jay-Z's “Holy Grail” when he raps to himself, “you still alive, still that n-gga. N-gga, you survived, you still gettin’ bigger.”

Evolution Of The Word

As time has passed, the African American community has developed new meanings for the word. What was once used solely as an expression of solidarity among survivors has transformed into a term of endearment, hence, the common phrase, “my n-gga.”

It has become so commonplace in America that Black youth actually strengthen their racial identity by using the n-word as an in-group term. A study of Ebonics on Twitter by Duke University showed that the n-word was by far the most commonly used term amongst Black users in 2015, being cited in over 6.6 million tweets in one month alone.

Because music is the purest form of expression, the n-word is especially pervasive among rappers.

Hip-Hop As A Medium For Counterculture

Hip-Hop is rooted in Ebonics (“Black talk”). Although nowadays it is consumed by mainstream audiences, it was originally made for, and by, working class Black youth whose racial identity and acceptance was dependent on fluency in Black vernacular English.

Rappers have continuously used the n-word in different contexts and with diverse connotations. In a 300 word freestyle, Brooklyn emcee Grandmaster Caz used the word 46 times to illustrate its various meanings, which range from a sense of camaraderie and competition to an outright insult.

This is a basic social phenomena. Because the n-word is so deeply rooted in hatred and racism, it is inherently reminiscent of the “prototypical attributes” associated with Blacks during the 1600s – that they were lazy, violent, subservient, and simple minded creatures. Hip-hop functions as the medium through which Black artists can use the slur in non-derogatory ways, effectively opposing and subverting longstanding sociocultural norms.

There is also the reclamation aspect to the word.

Reclamation

Let me be clear: it is normal for stigmatized groups (and any social group really) to use derogatory terms in an ironic fashion. That is a physiological response that ANY race would adapt under the conditions slaves were subjected to. And it's POWERFUL. I didn't understand at first either so bare with me.

Think of it as taking back the word and all of the power that comes with it. Black people didn't choose 400 years of oppression and they certainly didn't choose to have a word basically meaning "sub-human species" made-up to refer to them. That was all forced onto the Blacks by racist White Americans.

It's like in Elementary school when the playground bully starts making fun of you. You can cry or get irritated, which gets you nowhere because the bully finds satisfaction in your pain. You can snitch, in which case you'll just get bullied even harder. You can fight back, which is often a one way ticket to the principal's office since the retaliator always gets caught for some reason. OR you let it go and act like it doesn't bother you. The second you do that, the bully finds somebody else because they no longer have any power over your emotions. This is a slightly different scenario but the concept is the same.

By embracing the same word that 400 years ago (and during the Jim Crow Era as well) was so widely used as a weapon of oppression, Black Americans find empowerment. The desensitization of the n-word amongst the Black community is what enables such camaraderie amongst the Black community.

Mixed Signals Don't Matter: Refraining From Use

This isn't a linear topic. Not every Black person feels the same way. Although the majority (69% according to a study by Cal State) use the n-word for either individual identity's sake or for reclamation, there is still a percentage that feels the word should not be used at all.

Public Enemy's Chuck D slammed Jay-Z and Kanye West over their profuse use of the word in collaborative song "N-ggas in Paris." Following the Summer Jam Festival in New York in 2014, he questioned what would have happened if they were Jewish and sang derogatory things about Jews. "If there was a festival and it was filled with anti-Semitic slurs... or racial slurs at anyone but black people, what do you think would happen? Why does there have to be such a double standard?”

Many white people have made the argument to me that "If some Black people recognize the harmfulness of the word and the need to abandon it completely, then so should all of them." I have also heard the question "If they can say it (or sing it) why can't I?" so many times I swear I want to pull every piece of hair out of my head. Because the answer stays the same: IT DOESN'T MATTER

That word does NOT belong to anybody except the Black community. We (white people) created it as a tool to bring them down. LET THEM HAVE IT and leave it alone. Whatever way in which Black Americans want to use the n-word, it is their god-given right. So finally, what is the importance of refraining from use of the word when singing along?

Being a white hip-hop fan and NOT being able to sing along to the fullest extent is extremely insightful. As New York Times Best Selling Author Ta-Nehisi Coates puts it, it "gives you the tiniest peek into the world of what it means to be black." By this he was referring to the social and economic barriers that prevent (and prevented) blacks from experiencing the same level of freedom and security as white folk (like the ability to drive a car without being racially profiled and pulled over).

Extend them the basic courtesy of not appropriating their word. If the most commercially successful rapper of all time (Eminem) can go his entire career without once using the word, so can you.