Thank you soror, that is my point!

Let's just all agree right now that we all don't like the word, it's a horrible word to use and hopefully one day the word will be done away.

now that we have that out the way, let's get back to the subject at hand!

The point is, who uses this word. Black people(ignorant or not). It is part of urban street language just like the frequent use of the word "chickenhead" "bi***" and other words.

If you let non blacks start saying a word because "well we say it, why shouldn't they?" that is only the start. Nigga will be changed to nigger, and so on. You nip it in the bud and let them know that using that word is NOT COOL, black or non black!

I have noticed that more white kids say nigga than black people. All that I know is that I doubt Eminem will say the N word, he knows better!

qte

Answer this. Because alot of people do wrong, does that make doing wrong acceptable/cool? When you see drama, is it in most of our hearts to try and stop it; or watch it and be entertained by it? Are you still around at the end; and if so, do you still feel "entertained"? It's this kind of curiousity and cold-hearted indifference that perpetuates the violence in our society. Check out the videos. What are their themes?
Sex, money, violence, and revenge. Even thugs need a break! Dayum!

Because so many people use the word shouldn't make it acceptable; it just means we have our work cut out for us in terms of tryin' to get our own to stop usin' it. I betcha it'll stop if we collectively stopped buying videos that use that word.

All the same to me. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

Ok , I hate the word! i heard the song and wa swondering when the question would surface. I think JLO and Angie Martinez use the word is because of their roots.. I lived in NY and it isn't strange to hear the Puerto Ricans calling each other the N word just like blacks. So it wasn't a shock to hear it in her song. I think JLO takes great pride in being Puerto Rican and is not ashamed of it or trying to hide her heritage. I have many friends that are Puerto Rican and they do see themselves as having a black heritage and some consider themselves blacks. This also goes for many Dominicans. I think JLO has a great marketing team behind her who knows how to market her to both markets. Would there be as much hoopla if Mirah Carey said the N word, know ing she is biracial? Again I hate the word and will never use or allow my son to use it.

I guess us folks in NYC see it differently. I was discussing this with my friend who happens to be Puerto Rican, and we grew up in the same hood, faced the same type of challenges and racism with racist cops and the like, and the same economic "walls". We relate to each other. She will call any dude around the way: "Yo that is my n****" and nobody will take offense to it. I think of Puerto Ricans as black people with straight hair anyway... I see nothing wrong with it, but I can see where some are upset. I have to stick up for a fellow Bronx girl because we are all guilty of saying the terminology, black people refer to Puerto Ricans as "N****" and vice versa... it is a term of endearment whether we like it or not.

I think Starr and Buck are being hypocritical because they don't like her. Why? Because PR artists like Fat Joe, Big Pun, the Beatnuts, Cypress Hill, and Cubans like Cuban Link have all used the word freely in their lyrics, and there was never an uproar. So why does J-Lo get the hate?

Its a vile word, and I hate it when I hear my people say it. We should never accept the lowest from anyone else, and we most certainly should not accept from each other. If that word is fair game, then what isn't??

I'd like to take what TOA said a step further though. the word (yuck) nigger comes directly from the Latin "niger"- so it has always referred to Black people regardless of education. The whole "ignorant person" thing came later, when whites would call each other that. Basically, meaning "you are as stupid as a Black person."

But if its okay for Blacks to say it, those with a ghetto pass to say it, then why can't everyone in the United States be allowed to say it? And it doesn't always mean "wassup"--as all words, the context can change the connotation. But the denotation doesn't change.

Really, I'd like to ask proponents of the word..What really do you gain?

I agree with you 100% Red6.

There are some differing, yet interesting and valid points being made. I do agree that we as black folk have been using the word for so long that it's hard to imagine it going away. However I don't think that's any reason for us to stop trying. I for one am guilty of using the word more often than I am proud of. At the same time, I do feel it's something different when I hear it from my best friend than when I hear it from a policeman or professor (not that I ever have, but I'm just saying.) I think that J.Lo is being chastised in the black community because people like Starr and Buckwild don't feel she has the all important "street cred" required to be considered "down". Fat Joe, Big Pun and the other artists perceptively and correctly listed by straightBOS on the other hand do. Just more hypocrisy, which is basically what urban music has come to be indicative of. In a perfect world this word would no longer be used by black, white, green, purple or blue people, but the truth is that for every homeboy on the corner using it to address his boys, there's a CEO of a major company using it at the dinner table with his family. It's a tough issue, but I am willing to say that J.Lo has no right to use it. Reading these posts has made me see the pain and hurt it still causes for so many people, and she does not have any right whatsoever to contribute to that because she has no stake in our community. perhpas Starr should have been more concerned with starting a letter writing campaign to the record lables of Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Master P, Ja Rule, DMX, Sisqo, Alicia Keys, Chante Moore...all artists who use this word on their CD's so that other artists such as J.Lo won't be tempted to do the same in the future.

I agree, let's see if we can write to all the rappers and make them stop saying it! It only takes one voice...

I think J.Lo gets slammed now because she now appeals to the white audience. When she first came out, she was "selena". Now she chasing after a angel in "angel eyes" she has crossed over(just like beyonce, have you noticed that she looks more blond lately?)and when you cross over, you get more flak cause point blank, we see you too dang much.

Big Pun and others are ones that most consider "true to hip hop" and are respected as such. So that why you didn't hear the big hoopla over them.

In a recent comparison, Salem Hayek won over Jennifer Lopez as most beautiful, because the people questioned said she was "more hispanic looking" than J.Lo. So crossing over can be a blessing and a curse(Hammer was proof of that, lol)

QTE

i got this on CollegeClub and wanted to share:

Jennifer Lopez is under fire for using the N-Word in her new single, “I’m Real.” The controversial track contains the line: "People are always
asking me what's up with so and so. I tell those n----s mind their business, but they don't hear me, though."

~ The tune “I’m Real” was written by Ja Rule and producer Irv Gotti, both of whom are black.

~ Star & Buckwild, the morning team at Hot 97 in New York, slammed J-Lo on
the air after playing “I’m Real.” They urged listeners to phone Jennifer’s record label, Epic, and complain. They even told folks to express their outrage to Jennifer’s sister, Linda Lopez, who’s a news anchor at the WB
station in New York.

~ Star (real name is Troi Torain) used a racial slur to slam J-Lo on the air; she called Jennifer and a "rice-and-bean-eating bitch" and "common Bronx trash." Star continued her racist retaliation off the air calling Jennifer a “spick princess.” Star went on to say, "I'm sure a lot of young Spanish kids use the N-word, but when you reach her level — a level where you have a platform — why is she using a word that's derogatory to blacks? If you're a so-called role model, don't spit in the face of
African-Americans."

~ Star thinks J-Lo used the N-word to try to get street credibility (to earn her “ghetto pass”). But Star said that Lopez should stay “on the pop side of the tracks” and “stop trying to be down with the ‘hood.”
Turner’s Two Cents: J-Lo was way out of line, but so are the black artists who throw the N-word around in their music. The sad and sick reality is that using the N-word has, in fact, become a way to get “street
credibility.” So has cursing, glorifying drug and alcohol abuse, calling women out of their names and dressing, taking and acting like a thug. Once rappers started using the N-word in public, and started treating it
like a badge of honor, they opened up the way for non-blacks to use the word in public, also. Star is right for being angry, but she is wrong for using racially degrading terms like “rice and bean eating bitch” and “spick princess.” Racial slurs are always wrong and two wrongs can never
make a right. Star lost the moral high ground by allowing her anger to drag her down to the same level she was speaking out against

Yeah, I think if Mariah Carey used the N word, her white fans would feel alienated and her black fans would feel uncomfortable. I would definitely feel uncomfortable if Mariah used the term b/c I don't think she identifies with the black community outside of her music career.
Nonetheless, it can appear a bit hypocritical if we have rappers running around "nigga this nigga that," and telling J-Lo the word is unacceptable. Afterall, is it supposed to be a "black thing," or an ignorance thing.

It would be great if artists stopped using the term because some concerned citizens decided to write. But, in all reality, many artists find nothing wrong with using the term. The use of this term in songs often makes artists and songs more appealing to the HUGE audience of blacks who use the term all day everyday.
Music is affected by what's going on around us and vice versa. If there is a big campaign against the N word in our communities AND IN THE STREETS (where I hear it all the time) MAYBE the artists will feel more self conscious when they use it. If they are not made to feel self conscious by listeners, a few letters won't stop the flow of the dough or the use of the term.

LAWD!

See, she shouldn't of called J.Lo that! It irritates me that she said the N word, but damn don't call her a rice and bean eating bitch! The point she is trying to make is now null and void if she said that!

I heard Star said that to Puffy on the air while he was doing an interview on how he still care for her. I'm glad she ain't with puffy no more and that's real!


QTE

I understand where you're coming from with that one, but I still think the use of it is wrong. If you're down with me, then you should also understand how offensive that word is to me & respect me enough not to use it. I had a friend (white) once that used to freely use that word. She mainly hung around African Americans & thought she was "down" enough to say n***@ in the same context as when we say it. Yes, I went off. And yes, she stopped (at least in my presence), but she could never understand why it offended me so badly when she said it.

I haven't heard J'Lo's song, but I will try to see if I can. And if someone has that address, I will gladly mail my complaint (otherwise, I'll research it).

I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY with a lot of what you say, but I just have to say that ain't no white person CONVINCE US that the word nigger was somehow positive, or that we should use it. Every white person who has ever used it has known exactly what they meant, just like the people they saiud it too, and I GUARANTEE none of them were thinking it meant "my fine upstanding African-AMerican citizen". I think that's something we need to take the blame for, and now it's biting us in the butt because how in the Hell are we going to protest over J-Lo when some of us use it every other word to NO COMMENT from the rest of us? I didn't see any campaigns started when R. kelly used that word damn near 100 times in the remix of I Wish, so why are we so hot and bothered about J. Lo?