I read a recent article revolving around the Kanye and Jay-Z song "N****s in Paris" that featured the likes of the blue-haired Siren Katy Perry covering the Watch the Throne hit at karaoke, which of course made it a natural YouTube clip sensation. Now, this particular writer was curious at the start about what form of the "N word" she would use while singing, whether it be the white person appropriate phrase or just n****s in general to adhere to the rules of verbatim in karaoke. She proceeded to use the word ninja, which has been circulated for about 10 years as an "appropriate" substitute.
Obviously, not the most exciting report, but the point was that thrusting whatever gussied up version of THAT word out there does not change the fact that people are thinking about n**** in general, as Louis C.K. famously stated as part of his stand-up act. Why not say it? It does not change the fact that it is there, staring us in the face. For me, when n****s is in the context of a song, I blatantly say it because it has ever important quotations around it, not suggesting any different undertones than what the artist is exclaiming through the majesty of music. It's a quote, and when a quote is tampered with, especially one people know and can recite themselves, it loses its significance. I feel like I'm doing a disservice to the songwriter or singer if I self-editorialize.
My point of reiterating another writer's point? In the same article, Jay-Z was asked a question by this writer if white people came up to him and just said n**** to his face in the context of the song, and if he thought white people just liked having an excuse to say n**** (Consequently, one of my favorite songs is "Real N**** Role Call", by Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz, but not because I can say n**** 149x but because it's the dirtiest song I know.) He responded by saying white people should just call it "Paris", which seems to me like there are different sets of rules for different people, so it's essentially reverse racism. We HAVE to edit ourselves for his song, (by we I mean white people of course), despite the fact that he put the word n**** in the title to express the exorbitant lifestyle he and his boy Kanye have crafted for themselves after overcoming the stigma of being just n****s. Aren't we being somewhat racist as white people if we take that word out of the title since we are denigrating the message? People know the song, they know the actual title, and we think about it, so let's just say it. We shouldn't have to edit ourselves and sound like idiots, like Katy Perry undoubtedly did, by switching words that are direct quotes from the mouths of the authors. Also, using the term ninja probably offends all those people who spent numerous hours training to become silent assassins only to be deemed as "in Paris and they going gorillas"
Finally, I come to the meat of my rambling, which will more than likely make me sound so racist I'd probably be the most non-racist individual on the planet. When I think about rap music, in this day and age, it is so much more difficult to be a white rapper than a black rapper, and not for the obvious reasons like lack of rhythm or lack of respect in a predominantly black medium. I feel that crafting rap lyrics as a white person is much harder than a black person because black rappers have the buffer to use n**** in their songs, while white rappers are stuck with terms like honky, which sounds really uncool for a reason. Let's bring back my reference to "Real N**** Role Call" with 149 uses of the word n****. Now, I would never fathom tell Lil' Jon that his masterful weaving of words should be downgraded at all, but 149x? That's an entire verse in some cases, which would make the whole process worlds easier in my estimation. Also, the hardest part about rapping and making it sound good are decent transitions of lines and rhymes, finding genius seg-ways to seem more poetic and smooth. I constantly hear n**** being used as a transitional word, and utilized multiple times in that capacity in the same song, which doesn't seem unique or deft in any stretch, but simple.
A lot of black rappers fall into that category of being unoriginal or unimaginative with their lyrics, which in this day and age really doesn't matter because people really care about the beat and the bass, not the words. However, a lot of traditionalists believe the poetry of painting a picture with your lyrics, whether it be a tale of struggle or success, is vital to the craft. Rap is a craft, and obviously not all black rappers fall into this vein, but a number of them are destroying the craft of rap, making rappers like Eminem seem even more extraordinary because he is not only a white dude who raps quickly and decisively, but with passion and imagination that requires woven intricacies of phrases and sentences to tell a story that only he could cite. He is restricted with what he can say, but you couldn't picture him as having boundaries; he is unique in that people see him as a rapper without looking at his ethnicity first or celebrating his success despite his white heritage. He is a modern bard, and the majority of rappers can't be put in those terms, and most of that minutia are black rappers, so in my mind, black rappers have it so easy that they are challenged even further to be great, making rappers like Jay-Z interesting since, removing "N****s in Paris" from the discussion, which only uses n**** a handful of times anyway, he never relied on THAT word, making him the cream of the diluted black rapper crop. So, talented black rappers have it easy and hard as we will not fault them for using n****s occasionally but we will if they use it explicitly and if they manage to not let it define them and their music, they are seemingly better than their peers who rely on using n****s just to make a song flow. So, for those scoring at home, being a successful white rapper is challenging, being a masterful rap artist and white is incomparable, being a successful black rapper is less challenging, but being a masterful rap artist and black is special. (Someone will likely deem my assessment and divvying out of superlatives for particular racial groups as racist, but I can't Inception myself beyond 8 different levels of racism, although if you aren't black or white and successful at rapping, you are on your own level.)
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