Hip Hop is Dead....Nigger!

Now nobody wants to be the uncool person that says, "Nigger" is a dumb name for an album...but I'm too cool not to be cool.

I'm probably too old for this hip-hop stuff but at 31 years old, its still in my blood. I love this culture of hip-hop, complete with ignorant ass icons like Flava Flav, handicapped niggas like the Ying Yang Twins, and intelligent executives like Steve Stoute and Jay-Z. I love the entire hip-hop community but my favorite rapper is Nas. However, that album title is foul. The album title is self-serving and being validated under the guise that it's meant to "take power from the word." Is anyone gonna feel less of a sting if a white person calls them a "nigger" because Nas named his album "nigger."

I actually would have less of a problem with the title if he had simply said, "my record sales are declining and I need a very controversial marketing technique to draw interest to my project." But he said, " I want to take power from the word." Nigga Please. Once again, Nas is my favorite...Illmatic made me want to be a rapper...but hip hop is smarter than this and Nas is smarter than this.

Nas has been our modern day Langston Hughes...not our modern day Dick Gregory. Now Dick Gregory can put out an album called Nigger because he's going to spend time on that album proving how intelligent he is. While Dick Gregory appreciates his humble beginnings and his role as an Activist, Nas is ambivalent towards his genius and potential political power. My point: if you're not doing something to change the plight of the nigger, dont exploit that nigger.

Now I can be proven completely wrong if Nas puts out an album that contains groundbreaking content visually and sonically. I would hope if he read this then he would be motivated to do so. Now this may actually be the hidden purpose of my blog...to inspire...which would then make my blog a double entendre of prose and purpose! This would then make my blog a rap....(insert name change)....at this point you can also refer to me as MC Esquire! Holla! (I thought it was funny enough not to delete it when I thought you might think it was corny).

At the end of the day, my point is that we shouldnt just accept that album title, we should expect something more with that album title. The word "Nigger" has been used for centuries to denigrate and insult our people. But it wasn't just used by white people. I actually think that it's cool that we have taken ownership of the word...but I don't think it's cool for us to commercialize the word because at that point we lose ownership. The people that make the most money off of this album are the white owners of Universal. Commercializing the word "Nigger" will not marginalize it's meaning. There are 400 hundred years of lynching, beating, slavery, classism, and poverty built into that word. And now I have to hear some white kid say, "I love that 'Nigger' album." Nas, you're making the aforementioned scenario perfectly okay.

I care about Hip Hop and I believe it still has tremendous value in the market place without the fighting, the guns, the drugs, and "Nigger." But if "Nigger" has to exist, please make it mean something...or else...Hip Hop is Dead.