Oprah and Jay-Z disagree when it comes to the n-word

I was in the doctor's office the other day. I rummaged through the magazine selection and picked up an issue of Oprah magazine. Turns out that I had picked up the August issue. In it Oprah interviewed rapper Jay-Z.



Oprah: Speaking of conversations, when I met you a few years ago, we discussed our disagreement over the use of the N word and misogynist lyrics in rap music. Do you believe that using the N word is necessary?

Jay-Z: Nothing is necessary. It's just become part of the way we communicate. My generation hasn't had the same experience with that word that generations of people before us had. We weren't so close to the pain. So in our way, we disarmed the word. We took the fire pin out of the grenade.

Oprah: I was once at a Jay-Z concert, and there was a moment when everybody—including white people—was screaming the N word. I gotta tell you, it didn't make me feel good.

Jay-Z: That's understandable.

Oprah: But it didn't seem to affect you. You were having a good time up there onstage.

Jay-Z: I believe that a speaker's intention is what gives a word its power. And if we eliminate the N word, other words would just take its place.

You know, hip-hop has done so much for race relations, even with its ignorance—which, by the way, we do have to take some responsibility for. But even without directly taking on race, we've changed things just by being who we are. It's difficult to teach racism in the home when your kid loves Jay-Z. It's hard to say, "That guy is beneath you" when your kid idolizes that guy.

Oprah: I'll give you that. But when I hear the N word, I still think about every black man who was lynched—and the N word was the last thing he heard. So we'll just have to disagree about this.

Jay-Z: It's a generational thing.

Jay-Z says it's generational and that the power of the n-word is all in how one executes it. To some degree I agree. One can use the word "nigger" out of context and its hateful power does not exist if it is not aimed. However, I do not think that using the n-word in rap music has defused anything.

Just when women embrace the word, "bitch", "slut", or "cunt", or when gay men and women embrace "fag" or "dyke", the use of the word "nigga" has not assisted the decrease of oppression.

Despite the fact that I am not black and am not a child of the 50s or prior and I did not experience the heat of the civil rights movement, I still think of separate water fountains and lynchings whenever I hear the n-word.

At a certain point I thought...well, what do I know, I'm not black therefore I do not know what it is like to be a part of the community and to use it in a communicative manner.

Eventually, I changed my mind once again. Whenever, I heard the word used in a rap song I never get the sense that there is a sense of camaraderie but rather a sense that the rapper is attempting to intimidate and appear tough. Sometimes I get the feeling that some rappers feel that they aren't deemed credible if they don't use the word somewhere in their lyrics.

In other words I'm just not a fan of reclaiming language. Using the n-word doesn't defuse history nor does it change attitudes towards the present and future. Education does. Leading by example does. How bout' we try that?