Okay, so Ja Rule writes a lyric containing the “N” word for an alternative version of Jennifer Lopez’s single “I’m Real” which she goes ahead and sings. I’ve got just two words: PUBLICITY STUNT! This whole episode was clearly concocted to garner the publicity that it is dutifully receiving.
Anyway, Earl Ofari Hutchinson has a few more words than I about the controversy which could probably be summed up as: what did you expect?
The problem is that many of the blacks who rage at Lopez, and others who casually toss around racially loaded words, do not unleash the same fury on blacks who use the same words. In the crossover world of hip-hop culture that Lopez hails from, the use of racially offensive words has become a high art. Lopez has certainly heard legions of black comedians and rappers punctuate every line in their rap lyrics and comedy lines with those words, especially the “N” word, ad nauseam. In fact, we don’t have to guess about whether her ears were sullied by the word. Her scandal-plagued ex-soulmate and rap kingpin, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, once led a concert crowd in the chant “F… you Nig…”
I thought much the same thing when I first heard about the controversy, largely because at the time I was listening to Westside Connection who use the word incessantly, and usually in an extremely derogatory/threatening manner (as in, “What the f– you lookin’ at n–?”)
I was also reminded of KRS-ONE‘s commentary on the cross-racial usage of the word back a few years ago on “Boom Bap,”
Word, what go around come around I figure Now we got white kids callin' themselves n--s The tables turned as the crosses burned
Hutchison mentions the Richard Pryor concert where Pryor announces he’s not going to use the “N” word anymore. And, of course, Public Enemy mined much the same territory — though with less reverence and solemnity — on I Don’t Wanna Be Called Yo Nigga (and trust me, you don’t want to be the only three white boys at a small impromptu early-1990s Public Enemy concert when they start playing that song; your options are very limited at that point, to say the least).
One thing Hutchinson leaves out of his analysis is that some rap music contains images of racism and violence directed at whites and non-Black minorities that would render an album largely undistributable through normal channels. Take an album like Ice Cube‘s Predator or Lethal Injection and alter the racial angles and add a white face on the cover and you have an album that no major record distributor would touch with a ten foot pole (though, ironically, one of the reasons Predator sold so well was because of white crossover buyers — there doesn’t seem to be much of a market, on the flip side, for racist skinhead metal music among the Black community. Go figure).
Anyway, the one thing I learned from Hutchinson’s article is that Dick Gregory is against people using the “N” word. He probably should have come to that decision before writing his classic book, Nigger : An Autobiography.
Related posts:
Jennifer Lopez is the most talented actress on the whole earth. she is very qualified in her craft and a force to be reckoned with.
JLo is my favourite, i admire her and she made me like spanish.
Jennifer Lopez is elegant. I really like the way she dress up and she just looks great in any angle. I just wish there will be an upcoming concert and lots of music videos
Im glad that Jennifer Lopez will be judging the tv show American Idol soon. She is one of the best singers in the world and she is my number 1 artist.