What about Tarantino – he can’t be accused of Park Avenue princess shtick, can he?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihH_-O7ev2o

“Why should a word used to dehumanise, demean and degrade be rehabilitated? Why is it ok to attempt to reinstate it as harmless?”

Excellent, now go and discuss the word “queer”.

And, you know, how it has been rehabilitated as a badge of honour by those to whom is was once used against as an epithet.

For your post graduate studies you might want to look up “free speech”.

It’s also used as a word to beat white people with. Sort of.
I agree that it does the wider black population no favours, but ghetto is cool. Black is cool.
A certain kind of blackness. Not geeky blackness, but the hip dancers who so many white singers like to have on stage with them. Why is that? Wouldn’t white blokes dancing with Madonna look so authentic?

Black American linguist John McWhorter has been banging on about this kind of thing for years now. One of his books is called Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority in which he talked about the pressure on young black people growing up in the US, to conform to certain ideals and stereotypes.
One of which, was not to appear to be too good at school work. If you were in the top grade for everything, you will be seen to have sold out someway or to be ”acting white”.

OP – are you black? (Does it matter?) Genuine questions. As an extra suggestion to Mr W’s mention of free speech I’d say look at the first word in the title of this blog.

Also wise words from Harry Potter – fear of a word increases fear of the thing itself. If you want “the n word” to be the sole preserve of racists and bigots then fine, go ahead and wag your finger at successful black musicians (and their millions of fans). However I’d point at the fact that “queer studies” is now an academic discipline of how reclaiming a word can work.

Also, learn the difference between “nigga” and “nigger”. Clue – there is one.

OH AND one last thing – do you think Kanye West is somehow not black because he apparently plays up to stereotype, as you say? Should black people all be Mandela/Obama paragons of virtue? Middle-class privilaged crap like this OP demeans this blog and makes the author look ridiculous.

[4] ‘OP – are you black?’ – almost certainly not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iau-e6HfOg0

Tim Worstall, surely your not stupid enough to confuse criticizing people for saying something with attacking their free speech?

“black folks as base and lascivious, good for drug dealing, pimping and ‘hoeing out’.”

Errr, I’m not a fan of Jay-Z and Kanye musically, but this is a lazy stupid stereotyping of hip-hop, yawn-inspiringly common from this type of middle class critique of inner city African-American cultural expression.

No one is saying it is representative of all black experience, but people from certain environments and cultures use the n-word and it has a different meaning to them than it does to you. Rappers didn’t invent it’s usage, it’s always been used by black Americans. It’s meaning has changed over time. That’s a good thing. You may not like it but you don’t have to, your not from the same community. Get over it.

Ray is obviously still listening to the Roots, or something.

Great piece!

If anything is racist its the crass stereotyping of hip-hop artists as drug dealing gangstas and pimps in the OP.

Hip-hop is the most successful musical form in the Western world – but heaven help a black artist who fails to measure up to the Cosby Challenge.

@5

‘OP – are you black?’ – almost certainly not.

Er, have you clicked the link imbedded in the author’s name? Has a picture of her, answers Mr S Pill’s question fairly accurately.

Twitter went amok this week after Gwyneth ‘Goop’ Paltrow tweeted a picture of herself with Jay Z and Kanye West captioned, “N****s in Paris for real”

Did Paltrow use the word ‘N****s’ or ‘Niggas’*? If its the first, then she’s already censored herself so what’s the problem? If its the latter, then you have censored the word suggesting that you think ‘niggas’ can’t be used in any context, even reporting, which suggests you are more concerned with a sequence of letters rather than the meaning, which varies with context (who says it to whom, where or when, the tone, implied audience, modality, etc.).

This would point to a massive ignorance about the way language works as a context-based social interaction rather than as a primitive system of signs where the signifier and signified are inextricably linked (pace Saussure).

*Obviously it can’t be the Big Bad N-Word as there aren’t enough letters.

Good of LC to correct the original ‘Twitter went AWOL’

I like the idea of twitter suddenly going absent without leave…

Yeesh. It’s a word, a combination of letters. In some contexts, it’s offensive, generally when it’s used as a term of abuse or condescention. In others, it’s fine. When black people use the word to describe themselves, OBVIOUSLY it’s not a term of offense unless they’re on some weird racist bent against their own group.

Also, where did we pick up the hysterical American habit of calling it “the n-word”? I can understand if you’re talking to an audience that might include children, e.g. on the six o’clock news. Otherwise, it just feeds into the fear of the word. Talk about “nigger” in inverted commas and it’s obvious that you’re dicussing the word, not lashing out at black people. Same with asterisking. As another commenter points out, your presentation of “N****s”makes it impossible to know what Paltrow actually said.

Focusing on racist terminology while ignoring context implies that you don’t know what racism is. It’s not the use of certain naughty words, it’s the habit of stereotyping based on race. I’m sure you do know what racism is, but if you get sidetracked by irrelevences like this you a) end up making accusations of bigotry against innocent people and b) feed into the whole “PC gone mad” thing.

Ok, just check Paltrow’s feed and she did censor the word. For some reason, the OP has censored it differently: Paltrow had “Ni**as”, we have “N****s”.

For those in the “saying the word is racist regardless of context” camp, is it less racist with the asterisks in?

@ 8 vimothy

“Ray is obviously still listening to the Roots, or something.”

There are plenty of rappers who don’t go in for the whole “guns, bitches and bling” thing. Off the top of my head I’ve got Will Smith, Sage Francis and Brother Ali, and I don’t even listen to rap that much.

Gangsta rap does push bad messages, but it’s not representative of the entire genre.

[11] http://reybozblog.it/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/homer-simpson-doh-reyboz-blog.png

10. Shatterface

If anything is racist its the crass stereotyping of hip-hop artists as drug dealing gangstas and pimps in the OP.

Well that is not fair. Because she is only reflecting what said hip-hop artists do. If anyone engages in crass stereotyping, it is hip-hop artists. Even nice middle class boys who go into hip hop want people to think they are drug-dealing gangstas and pimps. Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs being a good example.

Not every hip-hop artists is 50 cent, but virtually all of them wish they were.

Hip-hop is the most successful musical form in the Western world – but heaven help a black artist who fails to measure up to the Cosby Challenge.

Successful is an interesting word.

16. Chaise Guevara

There are plenty of rappers who don’t go in for the whole “guns, bitches and bling” thing. Off the top of my head I’ve got Will Smith, Sage Francis and Brother Ali, and I don’t even listen to rap that much.

Yeah but do they do well? Will Smith is a good example. He was asked to write a song for Spike Lee’s film Do The Right Thing which he did. It was rejected for being too Cosby. Lee went with Public Enemy instead – which is appropriate given their acts are both essentially a Minstrel Show. Smith gets no respect as a hip hop artist. Nor should he to be honest, but not because he is not trying to pass himself off as a drug dealer.

The n word’s use is often justified with excuses about ‘reclaiming’ it from racists, as if ubiquity alone can weaken its impact.

Well obviously ubiquity will weaken its impact. If you object to the hurt the word causes, you ought to support using the word as widely and as often as possible. Then no one will care. No one is hurt by being called a sofa.

For me, its use is an unimaginative attempt to be a bit risqué, to get the perquisite parental advisory sticker, upping the cool factor for 12 year olds.

Absolutely. Before Rap, White teenagers used to try to shock their parents by listening to Heavy Metal music with its interest in Satanic iconography. But Rap is even better. Because no one gives a sh!t about Satan any more. Words that used to be banned are now common place. LC will not censor me for saying shit, nor fuck. They certainly won’t censor me for saying forbidden religious words. Unless I say something about Muhammed I suppose. Nor will anyone else. How then to offend your parents and teachers? Well you can use misogynistic and racist terms. Which is where the thrill comes. Every society has words you cannot say. We now say the ones we used to be banned from saying. So the idiotic children look for new words. Calling your classmate a fuckwit won’t upset your teacher, but calling him gay will. Calling women whores will. Calling Black males N***as certainly will. They are not trying to reclaim anything. They just know which side their bread is buttered on. So the solution is to make what GP said as boring as saying Jesus Fucking Christ.

Why should a word used to dehumanise, demean and degrade be rehabilitated? Why is it ok to attempt to reinstate it as harmless? How do you wipe centuries of hate and hurt with three minute odes to unchecked ego and conspicuous consumption?

There is no such thing as three centuries of hate. There is only the here and now. And perhaps a little bit of yesterday. This hate would not even exist if it was not taught – taught by Whites and taught by Blacks. Give it up and it will go away. Encourage people to use the N-word at every possible opportunity and the meaning will change. It will no longer be seen as offensive by anyone.

How when black people’s outcomes in employment, health, life expectancy, income and housing are vastly lower than any other group can you take away the meaning of a word that justified a system meant to entrench this?

Black people’s outcomes are worse largely because they choose poorly. The White community shows what it thinks of Black people by spending billions every year in a futile effort to raise those outcomes. Reparations? White people have been voluntarily paying them for decades. With little effect. The hatred is part of the problem. But Black choice is the other part. With White racism, if it even still exists, a long way back.

Jay Z and Kanye West, through their racist, capitalist and misogynistic lyrics prop up age-old stereotypes- black folks as base and lascivious, good for drug dealing, pimping and ‘hoeing out’.

Indeed. Because that is what the fans want to hear. Not just the White fans but also the Black community. As can be seen by the rejection of Bill Cosby or anyone else who acts White. Will Smith even. However, saying that drug dealing and pimping are not prominent features of the urban young Black male’s experience, rather than a stereotype, is unfair. They are “keeping it real” by reporting on a world most us, thankfully, have little to do with.

Good intentioned perhaps, stupid certainly, rappers have essentially greenlighted the n word’s use for fans and racists alike.

Then no one would use it. Once it gets to be so common that GP’s grandmother uses it, it will not sting and no one will care. As long as you try to keep it banned and prohibited, it will have a transgressive power. The choice is yours.

As a white person, I’d be reluctant to say either ‘nigger’ or ‘nigga’ outside of reported speech and meta-debates about when to use the words; Ms Paltrow strikes me as misguided in using the latter. I’m not qualified to participate in the debate over whether black people should refer to each other as ‘nigga’; that’s an internal issue for the black community.

However, as a writer, I’d reiterate the points above that asterisking and twee genteelisms like “the n word” should never, under any circumstances, be used in a serious publication.

If someone said “nigger”, then report “Bob Smith heavily criticised for saying ‘nigger’”. If someone said “nigga”, then report “Bob Smith heavily criticised for saying ‘nigga’”. If a person can’t handle “nigger” (or “cunt” or “faggot” or “Tory”) being used in reported speech, they should voluntarily recuse themselves from political debate, and devote their time to fainting at the sight of uncovered table legs.

Oh, and for the avoidance of doubt, Paltrow said “niggas”, not “ni***s” or “n****s (or indeed “ninjas”, a possibility that silly asterisking also leaves open…)

‘I’m not qualified to participate in the debate over whether black people should refer to each other as ‘nigga’; that’s an internal issue for the black community’ – does this mean we are divided primarily on the basis of skin colour into 2 separate groups?

In other words before seeing a person we see each other as representative of a group, groups that are different from each other because of an arbitrary physical characteristic?

No, just that the reclamation of slur terms is an issue solely for the group that’s the target of the slur. If I were to say to a black person “you can’t get offended when I say ‘nigga’, because Snoop Dogg reclaimed it and I’m totes pro-black and I love rap and regga and buy fairtrade coffee”, then I’d be a fuckwit. The reclamation of the slur (or otherwise) has to be down to people who identify as black.

And I’m not suggesting the “black”/”not black” divide is useful in general, that it’s the major dividing line in society, or making any wider philosophical points about blackness and whiteness – just that people who identify as black should get to determine the reclaimedness or otherwise of ‘nigga’, much as people who identify as queer should get to determine the reclaimedness or otherwise of ‘queer’, ‘faggot’ and ‘pansy’.

“nigga” and “nigger” go say that to a black persons face (if you dare ) I’m sure the clap round your face will tell you if theres a difference.

Gwyneth Paltrow has a bit of form of being in thrall to the ghetto.
A couple of years ago she even did a verse of NWA’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ on Graham Norton’s show.

Which begs the question about why it is that a nice privileged white girl form Santa Monica, should be wanting to get down with the bros from an impoverished ghetto with massive problems of drugs and gang crime. Presumably she likes that manifestation of African American ”culture”.

@ 18 SMFS

“Yeah but do they do well?”

Not as well as the Eminems and Snoop Doggs of the world, I’ll admit. That said, Kanye West is massively successful, does he do the whole misogyny, homophobia, violence and/or consumer culture thing? Honest question, I haven’t heard him do it but, like I say, I don’t listen to rap much.

” Will Smith is a good example. He was asked to write a song for Spike Lee’s film Do The Right Thing which he did. It was rejected for being too Cosby. Lee went with Public Enemy instead – which is appropriate given their acts are both essentially a Minstrel Show. Smith gets no respect as a hip hop artist. Nor should he to be honest, but not because he is not trying to pass himself off as a drug dealer.”

Smith sells millions of records and has won award. Of course he has respect. What he doesn’t have is respect from gangster rap fans, but that’s sort of the point – not every rap fan is in that group.

@ 20 john b

“Oh, and for the avoidance of doubt, Paltrow said “niggas”, not “ni***s” or “n****s (or indeed “ninjas”, a possibility that silly asterisking also leaves open”

Her twitter feed says otherwise, and I was under the impression that once published they can’t be changed. Did this originate elsewhere?

Also, I agree with the rest of your post, but why should Paltrow be in any way condemned for using the word? As she said, it’s the name of the song. Should she not talk about the song, or change its name to include “n-word”? If nobody used an acronym for NWA, should they be considered a taboo?

@ 23 JaneDoe

““nigga” and “nigger” go say that to a black persons face (if you dare ) I’m sure the clap round your face will tell you if theres a difference.”

Let me get this straight: you think that, if someone offends a black person, they will immediately respond with violence?

JaneDoe wins the award for accidently revealing herself as a racist while trying to preach against racism.

@ 24 damon

“Which begs the question about why it is that a nice privileged white girl form Santa Monica, should be wanting to get down with the bros from an impoverished ghetto with massive problems of drugs and gang crime. Presumably she likes that manifestation of African American ”culture”.”

Well, yes. Obviously. She likes rap and therefore wants to take part in it.

What do you mean, why “should” she want to do that? Why *should* anyone want anything? Why *should* I want an ice cream?

Incidentally, putting “culture” in scare quotes while talking about African Americans is like wearing a hat that reads Please Accuse Me Of Racism.

“Whatever the rights or wrongs of Gwyneth’s response, the sad truth remains that in 2012, two of the worlds most successful rappers deem it acceptable to call their song, “N**** s in Paris”. The n word’s use is often justified with excuses about ‘reclaiming’ it from racists, as if ubiquity alone can weaken its impact.”

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, why cant you just mind your own fucking business and stay out of things you can understand.

@ Chaise

When black people use the word to describe themselves, OBVIOUSLY it’s not a term of offense unless they’re on some weird racist bent against their own group.

Just a minute!!!

Your saying that only people of a certain skin colour are allowed to use the word?

That’s discrimination, bro.

Is it all OK for Pakistanis to call each other pakis, Jews to call each other kikes and Italians to call each other wops.

What about chinks, japs, dagos, krauts, frogs, beaners, gooks, pikeys, ragheads, spades, wetbacks, yids and jocks?

Do I have to be gay before I am allowed to describe someone as queer? Or as a poof?

What about cripples?

(If you suspect I am using this thread in order to be able, once again, to inscribe as many of these fine combinations of letters as possible in one orgasmic blog comment, you may be right).

Paltrow is in trouble because she added the “for real”, in effect referring to herself, Kanye and JayZ as “N****s” (and yes, she did self-censor) who were performing in Paris. It stopped becoming just the title of a song but also a description of the photo.

@ 31 Kanyo

Good point.

What do you mean, why “should” she want to do that? Why *should* anyone want anything? Why *should* I want an ice cream?

Incidentally, putting “culture” in scare quotes while talking about African Americans is like wearing a hat that reads Please Accuse Me Of Racism.

I don’t expect a particularly nuanced discussion about rap music on LC, but will you just accept that there are a variety of opinions on what became the promoted glorification of the black American ghetto? Drive-by shootings being just one manifestation.

When I was young we used to watch the Jackson Five and the Harlem Globetrotters cartoons on a saturday morning. Those black Americans seemed so cool and hip compared to our rather boring English suburban existance. Their blackness was a major part of their appeal. White basketball players wouldn’t have had such star appeal for some reason. Why that was I was completely unaware at the time. It’s probably that they were ”exotic”. And I think that Gwyneth Paltrow finds that groups like NWA are ”dangerous” and exotic too.

John McWhorter has written a book about rap music, which was very badly reviewed by people who support the Hip Hop culture industry.

All about the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can’t Save Black America</a

There’s something of the black and white minstrals about gangsta rappers being so popular in white America.

Listen to Richard Pryor’s take on this, and how he had his mind changed during a trip to Africa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AltWj4iAmno

Apologies for misrepresenting Ms P – I’d not even checked her Twitter feed, on the assumption that she’d have deleted the tweet in question by now. I checked Google News and saw stories from reputable publications which – apparently – debowdlerised the text of her tweet to ‘niggas’. Which, with my writer hat on, is even less acceptable than bowdlerising – boo!

Agree with Kanyo on the question of why her actions aren’t OK.

Since she was referring to herself, Jay Z and Kanye West as Niggas then it is up to Kanye or Jay Z whether they find that rude. If they do she should apologise to them. If they do not, then she has nothing to apologise over.

It is not even the slightest bit to do with anyone else though. And the entire rest of the world, including Ms Frances Elizabeth should mind their own damn business.

@ 33 damon

Well, people often idolise their favourite artists, young people especially, and when a huge number of those artists are promoting the idea that guns are cool, gays are sick, women are prizes and your self-worth is shown by the price tag on your car, then yes, it’s problematic. I’m sure the influence of gangster rap has had a negative effect on many people’s live by pushing these messages, either by encouraging them to commit criminal acts or by being a motive force in their being victims of criminal acts.

I’ve no way of knowing what, exactly, Paltrow sees in this sort of music. Maybe she thinks it’s dangerous and exotic. Maybe she just likes it. Maybe she doesn’t like her goodie-goodie image after making a career out of playing sweet and vulnerable heroines and wants to look a bit badass. Ultimately it’s up to her, though.

@ 35 john b

Agreed – given that some people obviously DO think “ni**as” is acceptable where “niggas” isn’t, falsly claiming that she didn’t self-censor is tantamount to libel.

There seems to be a lot of confusion and misreporting going on, which is pretty stupid considering that the news sources could just check her Twitter feed. I still have no idea why the OP decided to censor the word differently to Paltrow – do the a and i push it from sayable to unsayable?

I’ve no way of knowing what, exactly, Paltrow sees in this sort of music. Maybe she thinks it’s dangerous and exotic. Maybe she just likes it. Maybe she doesn’t like her goodie-goodie image after making a career out of playing sweet and vulnerable heroines and wants to look a bit badass. Ultimately it’s up to her, though.

It’s up to her whether she goes along with the minstralisation of Black America Chaise?
I’ve tried with this theory before on another website and failed badly …. got called all sorts – but I have the idea that the whole of the hip hop genre has shaped a whole generation of African Americans right now, and racist perceptions about what it is to be Authentically Black

This little row about Gwyneth Paltrow using the N word is really quite pathetic and shows a society unable to discuss the bigger picture. About the nature of cultures and difference in a place like the USA. Why black Americans are ”expected” to have an authentic black American accent for example. And why race still means so much to people of all races there. Although less so as more and more people of mixed origin make mixed race more more common than ever.

That’s the third time I’ve done a link on this thread now Chaise. Perhaps you could give that one – a book review of John McWhorter’s book ”Authentically Black” at least a glance over. That’s where a debate on this might start IMO.

Btw, it’s not just ”gansta rap” that I have a problem with, but the self segregating encouragement of the whole of the hip hop genre. I am quite a fan of Tamla Motown and 60s and 70s Soul music, but even that I think was (perhaps) pushing racial categorisation.
Even though in a segregated society it’s quite understandable why people voluntarily self-segregated also. But The Three Degrees with two black and one white singer would never have been right. No matter how many line-up changes they had over the years, the two prerequisites have been that they must be female and black. A white one would have jarred with the image, no matter how well she could sing. Why is that?

@ 39 Damon

“It’s up to her whether she goes along with the minstralisation of Black America Chaise?”

Well, yes, evidently. But I think you’re being unfair here. If someone happens to like/perform a type of music, that doesn’t make them a flag-bearer for the negative attitudes you associate with that music.

I agree with you RE self-segregation. I’m not sure why America gets it worse than we do. Possibly because it has a more recent history of legally sanctified serious racism. Possibly because of more ghettoisation (although that’s chicken-and-egg in itself). Possibly just due to relative numbers.

Glanced through that book review. I’m aware of the general issue, “acting white” and all that. Part of the problem with race is that it’s identifiable on sight, which means that crab buckets exist wherever you go. If you grew up in a backwater town where anti-intellectual attitudes were rampant, but went to college and went on to be a successful and famous academic, the good ol’ boys at home might call you a traitor, but nobody in your new home town would give a damn, and strangers wouldn’t write angry articles about your perceived lack of authenticity.

I’m not sure how pervasive the attitude that the review attributes to black academics really is. I’d like to see some numbers on how many “believe that to be “authentically black,” one has to celebrate one’s African ancestry and support the teaching of Ebonics as a form of English in elementary schools [...] listen to “black” music, believe that racial profiling exists, agree with affirmative action, advocate for slavery reparations and solely watch black television”. It sounds suspiciously like someone has taken a single fanatic (or, more likely, the combined views of several fanatics) and generalised them to create a straw-man status quo to attack.

You keep talking about “minstrelisation”. What precisely do you mean?

You keep talking about “minstrelisation”. What precisely do you mean?

Maybe the word isn’t the best, or I’m not using it right. I mean something about caricatures of what is is to be a person. Stereotypes. And the feeling for the need to conform to one. That guy John McWhorter has been asked many times by black people if he is really black. They ask about ”both” parents – because he just doesn’t come across as black enough for some people. He doesn’t have a noticably black accent for a start, and admits that he was a bit of a geek at school and interested in ”un-African American” things.
I’m suggesting that many Rappers aren’t much better than the poor black kids I’ve seen in New Orleans tap dancing in the street for white American tourists. They are playing up to a stereotype.

Even a song like ”Gangsta’s Paradise” by the singer Coolio, which is seemingly against the negativities of the ghetto, actually seems to (I thought) glamourise it and make it sound like a good (authentic) place to come from.
Remember in the Eminem film ”8 Mile” where at the end of the film when he’s in a rapping contest, he unveils his opponant as a middle class black boy from a soft neighbourhood?
The guy’s credibility is crushed and Eminem wins the contest.
He wasn’t the real deal. From the authentic ghetto …. which Gwyneth Paltrow seems to like flirting with.

“John McWhorter has been asked many times by black people if he is really black. They ask about ”both” parents – because he just doesn’t come across as black enough for some people. He doesn’t have a noticably black accent for a start, and admits that he was a bit of a geek at school and interested in ”un-African American” things.”

Yes, notice all the ad homs here against the author of the OP for daring to give her opinion.

I’ve never forgotten a 2007 article by Thomas Chatterton Williams on this very subject. He also references McWhorter; “Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America”, which just about sums it up.

The way Williams puts it is that “like neurotics obsessed with amputating their own healthy limbs, middle-class blacks concerned with “keeping it real” are engaging in gratuitously self-destructive and violently masochistic behavior.”

“….. Until black culture as a whole is effectively disentangled from the python-grip of hip-hop, and by extension the street, we are not going to see any real progress.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052700926.html

Of course there’s plenty of whites happy to go along with all this niggas and hoes crap, for reasons ranging from wanting to look cool by association, to laughing up their sleeves at black people wallowing in ghetto mentality. Hell, it keeps them in their place and makes wads of cash for music executives and a few at the top of the rap industry.

I think this whole topic was covered pretty well by Paul Haggis in Crash.

ANTHONY (V.O.)
No, you want to listen to music of the Oppressor, you go right ahead.

PETER
How in the lunacy of your mind is Hip-Hop “music of the Oppressor??”

ANTHONY
Listen to it! Nigga-this, nigga that; you think white people walk around calling each other honkies?? “Hey, Honky, how’s business?” “Goin’ great, Cracker, we’re diversifying.”

Peter punches the radio, a country western singer wails.

PETER
This better? You like this? Man’s singing about lynchin’ a nigga.

ANTHONY
And you think there’s a difference?

PETER (singing)
“Gonna buy me a rope, and lynch me a niggaaaaaaa…”

ANTHONY
You got no idea where Hip-Hop comes from, do you? Back in the sixties we had smart, articulate black men. Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Fred Hampton; these brothers were speaking out and people were listening.The FBI said: “Oh, we can’t have that… I know! Let’s give the niggers this music by a bunch of mumbling Idiots and they’ll all copy it and sooner or later no one will be able to understand a fuckin’ word they say! End of problem!”

White Trash, it’s been my experiece online in the last few years that John McWhorter is someone who the liberal and radical left will not even consider discussing.
First of all he’s not anti-capitalist enough to see ”the bigger picture” – and then I’ve been told or read that’ he’s a bit of an Uncle Tom … and even a ”media whore”.
The last accusation was I think, because he writes books that are popular in mainstream (white) America, and goes on Fox News shows and tells people like Hannity and Bill O’Reilly ‘what they want to hear’ about black people.

Because of that ‘prejudice’ against him, they can then ignore all the good stuff he writes too. Many white people would rather listen to black men like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton before someone like John McWhorter.
Which is probably quite racist racist in itself.

So he’s not a leftist, and may be a bit dodgy in one or two areas – but who isn’t?
He still can be pretty good. And on subjects like the ”N word” row here he’s usually very good.
http://www.theroot.com/author?page=1&id=177&type=article

@ 41 damon

“I’m suggesting that many Rappers aren’t much better than the poor black kids I’ve seen in New Orleans tap dancing in the street for white American tourists. They are playing up to a stereotype.”

Probably true in some cases. Although there’s a question over how “bad” that is. If people are prepared to do it and other people are prepared to pay for it, you have there a pretty legit market. I see the point about playing up to stereotypes, but I’m not sure how you can reliably avoid that anyway. Or how you can tell which artist is genuine and which is faking.

“Even a song like ”Gangsta’s Paradise” by the singer Coolio, which is seemingly against the negativities of the ghetto, actually seems to (I thought) glamourise it and make it sound like a good (authentic) place to come from.”

Yeah, it’s a bit like those supposed anti-war films that tell us we should be appalled by war with all its kick-ass weapons and awesome explosions and cool macho protagonists.

“Remember in the Eminem film ”8 Mile” where at the end of the film when he’s in a rapping contest, he unveils his opponant as a middle class black boy from a soft neighbourhood?”

Haven’t seen it, but I get where you’re going with this.

“Remember in the Eminem film ”8 Mile” where at the end of the film when he’s in a rapping contest, he unveils his opponant as a middle class black boy from a soft neighbourhood?”

Worth pointing out that Eminem’s songs do celebrate violence, misogyny and homophobia* – hell, he even hates his mother – but he never once uses the n-word, so I guess he’s okay.

*He’s also very, very funny.

[46] ‘he never once uses the n-word’ – now that’s a moot point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWlVr2z7rYU

Haven’t seen it, but I get where you’re going with this.

Haven’t seen 8 Mile? Well this is a two minute youtube clip of the final showdown between Eminem and his rival in the rapping contest, where our white boy hero outs his challenger as having been to a private school and to be living at home with his two parents … who ”have a real good marriage”.
Ouch!

Which is much better than the mainstream fare you get from much of the black left in the States so often I thought. And the UK too.

It’s a song, it has bugger all impact on anything. Politics doesn’t take place in the sphere of popular culture.