So I'm the kind of guy that pays attention to the words of songs and a large part of my enjoyment of music is knowing lyrics and singing. So much so that I am practically always on call for Karaoke, particularly when it's Karaoke Apocalypse (greatest thing since the Redskins won the Super Bowl - for the record I own I Want You to Want Me). I can remember all the words to Billy Bragg and Smiths' songs if first heard 25+ years ago. I sing in the car and hum songs to myself to enhance or change my mood.
So after the recent race episode, where once again it was established that white guys cannot appropriate the *n*-word, I was corresponding with Law about hip-hop on Facebook. My main goal was to get some street cred with him, but it occurred to me that my experience of hip-hop has been largely solitary rather than social like my experience with pretty much every other kind of music. I'll happily serenade my friends or family with some REM, Black Sabbath, Cage the Elephant or whatever, but not Busta Rhymes.
Now this reticence is not a function of message, per se. I'm not bringing out the cliche of gangsta rap here. Busta brings some fun and positive messages in his music. And I'm not talking about the entire genre: I'll Shoop it up all day long in any company. The issue is, quite simply, his (the) use of the *n*-word. Take one verse from one of my favorite Busta songs, Break Ya Neck:
Tell me wat'chu really wanna do (Come here ma)
Talk to a nigga, talk with me
You look like you could really give it to a nigga,
from the way you talk and the way ya try to walk for me
The way you really try to put it on a dawg
Threw ya hips like ya never did before for me
The way you break yo' back, and I break yo' neck,
and the way you try to put it on the floor for me
(Come on!) Come on (Come on!) Oh yeah
Tell me where my niggas is at (Ok!!)
Lemme address y'all niggas one time,
while I lock that down, and I hit'cha wit that (YOU GONE!)
That bomb shit, y'all niggas gone all day
Be the nigga in the drop,
Y'all niggas know every time I come through,
this motherfucker, where we always takin the ride
(So let me do this bitch)
Y'all niggas know when we come, we be makin it flop,
the way we makin it hot'll make a nigga wanna stop... [pause]
Get money, then cash that check for me
All my niggas just bust yo' tech for me
Everybody from every hood bang yo' head,
'til you break your motherfuckin head for me!
There is no way for me to sing this, not even to myself, without substituting for that word. Doing so, however, changes the meaning of the song by removing a key part of Busta's voice. He speaks from a certain experience and he is speaking to a particular audience. I do not have that experience and I am not in the intended audience. While not a universal characteristic of hip-hop/rap music, it is extremely common.
Note that there are situations where the word is used and can be elided without hurting the voice or meaning. We all know the acceptable version of Kanye's Gold Digger: "But she ain't messin' with no broke, broke". In this case the song can be 'sanitized' for popular consumption without hurting the voice or meaning of the song. There is, however, at least a sub-genre where the voice of the speaker relies on the heavy use of that appropriated word.
So if I want to Break Ma Neck, what am I to do? I can sing the Misfits in front of a crowd at the Highball but not Master P or Ol Dirty Bastard? It seems so. In the case of this word, it is clear to me that meaning is tied up not only with the historical and sociological factors of its use and appropriation, but also the 'difference' between speakers. Busta and I are not of a kind in some respect - we do not share some essential characteristics or experience that make it OK to say *n*.
During the recent race episode, we discussed how pernicious the view can be that certain kinds of experience are irreducible and incommunicable. Saying that I cannot understand your experience is equivalent to your self-censoring, silencing your own voice. This extends to saying I can only speak to an audience of people like me. One response to this that we discussed was Fanon's poetic/existential writing. Perhaps narrative and not description is the way to overcome the wall of experience.
This unfortunately still doesn't solve my problem. If I treat these songs as texts, to be interpreted but not repeated, experienced, sung, I'm missing out on an essential aspect of what they are: music. Tupac's They don't Give a Fuck 'bout Us isn't the same as an essay by Fanon or DuBois, but I feel constrained to limit my experience of it.
I ran this by Law and we have decided to do a mini-episode debate about this. Not sure when we'll record but sometime in the next couple of weeks. We'll keep you updated.
--seth
I think that there is a broader question, via existentialism, relating to whether or not texts (art, lectures, etc) can provide us with vicarious/virtual experiences such that we “get it” in a visceral kind of way and not just an abstract sense, something that goes beyond transmitting information.
There’s a very relevant scene from Louis CK’s television show dealing with straight comedians using the word faggot. It seems like a lot of people take the wrong idea away from his stand up set about some kind of free reign over the use of hateful words, but at the same time I don’t see how just consciously avoiding certain language altogether is going to do much to resolve our entrenched differences (and can also even conceivably work to substantiate them in another sense). The attempt at censoring yourself after having already typed out nigger a dozen times very informatively in that post serves nicely to show how ridiculous an outright ban would make for. Consider whether you are more uncomfortable about others being hurt every time the word ever gets used, or if it’s rather that having the structural differences we are always member to revealed in such an acute way is personally awkward to deal with. I think what is important is to make a sincere attempt at understanding what the language we use means to others and not just ourselves, and to always speak carefully http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-55wC5dEnc
Hi Seth,
Here’s a slightly different take, which I hope might remove some of the potential heat from this topic.
Query whether the issue really is use of the “n-word” as such. Yes, that’s the most egregious example (full disclosure: I’m against it and won’t defend its use). But I wonder if you better identified the primary issue as one of who can claim membership in the audience, and how is one to consume certain cultural artifacts when you’re not really “of” that culture.
For example, I would feel similarly (not to say equally) self-conscious and awkward trying to flow to certain rap which doesn’t contain that word; say, PE’s “Rebel Without a Pause”…
http://youtu.be/q0b0jIaCEHU
…which frankly leaves me looking about as cool as this guy:
http://youtu.be/GKlDBi0cyIA
Even outside of rap, I would feel self-conscious singing some of my favorite soul tracks in public, like “Young, Gifted and Black”*
http://youtu.be/ubDVUQon5BE
or “Is it Because I’m Black?”*
http://youtu.be/LPFcMPOg86I
Or maybe to invert the phenomenon — Can I be a shanda for whistling Wagner?
http://youtu.be/1PoPZF82FX8
Do those examples even inter-relate? Maybe I’m over-thinking it. Anyway, hopefully this is food for thought for your upcoming discussion with Law.
______________
*Yes, I know these aren’t the originals, but I’m a sucker for the Jamaican soul sound.
I might suggest:
Provisional rule 2B: No one shall name drop Chris Rock or his philosophy
Provisional rule 3B: Although entertainment value shall remain supreme, it is recognized that perhaps “White Entertainment Television” & “White History Month” are not as amusing as they seemed at first
To be honest, I’m slightly surprised that this is the kind of thing a trained philosopher would get worked up about. Use verses mention, my friends. Use verses mention.
Similar to what JKE said, I think there’s a difference between you singing someone’s song, in which case you’re quoting or ‘mentioning’ (that latter being a bit of a misnomer here, at least in its vernacular sense), and you either writing your own song with profanities in it or using such profanities in your everyday speech. I readily admit, however, that when I sing songs that contain any kind of profanities in front of people who do not like those words, I get nervous, not because I feel like I am doing something wrong, but rather because I feel like someone will think I am doing something wrong; this includes all profanities, by the way. It is difficult to convey to people generally the use/mention distinction. Similarly, for me anyway, I have a difficult time talking about religious orientation with people, not because I feel I have the wrong orientation but just because it is a sensitive subject and other people might think I am wrong for expressing it.
Insightful post. It’s got me interested in your podcast and the rest of your write-ups.
Now: I am Irish. Not Irish-American (be they exist), I’m Irish-Irish. I have absolutely no concept of the racial tension between black folk and white folk. However, I am married to an American of mixed decent, including African-American. Black people only started showing up here about 12 years ago, and my first reaction wasn’t to think of the word nigger. My first reaction was “These people are oddities for sure”. I hit on one, tried to make friends with a few, actually made friends with one, and felt really awkward sitting beside one in a public meeting (partially because he felt awkward in a room full of foreigners).
I too love lyrics and rhymes, and I tried finding a rhythm in those Busta Rhymes lyrics. Thing is, I felt more awkward saying “dawg” in my own head than I did saying “nigga”.
So what does that mean?
Try this one: