Recently I’ve been having my own personal battle with the word “nigga”. I’m in between using it as a term of endearment or stop using it because of it’s negative history. Can that word really become a positive thing? Or are we just brainwashed to believe we gave it a powerful meaning. There are so many words we could call each other that sound better such as brother or king. Or as my brother Loaded Lux says, “beloved”. This could be apart of the progress for self-love within the black community by disposing a word that was used as a negative descriptor of our people. It is becoming extremely hard to stop saying it because rappers say it in nearly every song I listen to. There is a song called “My Nigga” by YG. Imagine how many times he says nigga. Then there is people like Oprah who want to band the word all together because of how it was used during periods of time when there was extreme hatred towards blacks. I understand why Oprah and people like her would want that word to not be glorified because they have heard it in its worst form.
On the other hand I want to use the “n’ word because there is something we have that white people technically can’t use. Well, they can use it just in the right setting and around the right people. White people can’t take the word “nigga” like they do everything else we make cool and say it on TV without getting in trouble. I love it. Also, we took the word and made it a way to address one another now white people can’t stand it. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard “Well they say it to each other. Why can’t I say it?” Its like music to my ears when white people say that. Also, Kendrick Lamar brought to my attention in his album “To Pimp A Butterfly” the word “Negus”. It means king, ruler, or emperor. That almost did it for me to continue to call people “nigga” but something just doesn’t feel right about it. In my personal opinion as of now I believe people give words power so therefore we should be able to change the meaning of the word “nigga” to a positive word. I also don’t care if white people use the word in a friendly manner towards me because this is the hip-hop era the word is used to often for this generation of white kids not to use it.
However, I do believe there is a difference between “nigga” and “nigger”. If there is a difference between “to”, “too”, and “two” then there is definitely a difference between those two words. Its all comes down to where you were born and how you were raised to determine your opinion on the word. But the word isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Thank you.
The New Wave 