The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word

One thing you may hear often on this blog is the I enjoy rap music about as much as my fellow monkeys like to make fun of me for it. I've listened to rap music since I was about ten years old. Of course, back then I heard it mostly through the wall that connected my room with my sister's. In fact, It was probably her influence that got me hooked on it. Creative instrumentals, addictive beats, smooth melodies, but more importantly meaningful lyrics, all played a part in my genesis as a fan of rap music. Guys like 2pac, Biggie, Nas, EPMD, the underappreciated Arrested Development, and if you really want retro, NWA, were able to bring to the table a healthy combination of catchy club songs and meanigful, passionate, true-to-life lyrics about a world I knew very little about, and wouldn't have considered otherwise.

Though, I guess it was a different time for rap music back then. While the scene was marred by the same "hip-pop" bullshit that is the foundation for the industry's current regiment, it never felt quite as fake as it does now. Even guys like Kanye West--who preaches about justice, how the American government force fed black people Crack, and how George W. Bush doesn't care about black people--becomes more con artist than rap artist as time goes by. Don't get me wrong, I like Kanye. Late Registration was a great album--though, like I said, the only reason this album got the immense praise that it did was because after 1996, rap music went to shit. SinceNas refuses to make himself mainstream, Kanye is the general public's only outlet for rap music that actually tells some sort of story. However, when I read something like this, I start losing faith.

Read it, I'll wait. It's important.

Now, putting aside the fact that I read it in Dose, this kind of thing just...Well, insults me, quite frankly. It should insult everyone. Now, this may not mean much to the rest of you, but in the almost ten years I've been listening to rap music, I've never once said the "n" word--at least not in a context that wasn't "Dude, Kanye just marginalized the word nigger." I take pride in it because, as much as I can, I try to maintain a level of maturity and contextual awareness in my behavior.

obviously something 'Ye is missing from his repetoir of bought-and-paid-for lyrical prowess and an ego twice the size of Texas. I don't really understand what he's trying to do with this stunt. For one, he's pandering to the rich hipster white boy pseudo intellectual college students who love nothing more than to be considered "niggerish". These is the same ignorant fan base that basically decided for the rap industry that Jay-Z was the greatest rapper ever--which I could not disagree with more, but that's a different issue.

I guess it speaks to his ego to assume that, since he can tastelessly portray a black Jesus on the cover of Time, he can also take over the N-Bomb and use it however he pleases--which apparently involves comparing it to a high school hall pass. He can pass it around like a spliff, pass pass puff--but make sure you don't hog that shit, cause he can take it back as quick as he pleases. Like the slave masters that called his ancestor "nigger" and enslaved his people for hundreds of years, Kanye has taken the racist term for African people and is using it to enslave society's new "nigger". Essentially, Kanye has become the slave driver. His slaves? Ignorant wiggers and suburbanites who eat it up like corn bread.

Kanye West doesn't care about black people.

Peace,
Ramin