(AllHipHop News) For decades, Hip Hop artists have faced criticism for using the word "n*gga" in their music. It has been one of the most heated debates in the culture. There have been calls to "bury" the word, but some artists (Black and White) have argued anyone should be allowed to say the n-word in context.
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TDE's Kendrick Lamar spoke about his own use of "n*gga" in an article with NME. "The Blacker The Berry" rapper admitted it would be difficult for him to simply remove the word from his vocabulary.
"The closest I can do to stopping is putting the root word, negus, on my album. But I don't know if I'm there mentally to stop saying the n-word yet," said Kendrick. "I dunno, maybe one day. That's 27 years of reversing that word, I probably been saying that since I was one-year-old."
The first words on K. Dot's latest album To Pimp A Butterfly are "every n*gga is a star." The opening line on "Wesley's Theory" represent many members of the Hip Hop community's repurposing of the n-word as a term of endearment.
Kendrick does switch up the lingo on the extended version of his single "i" where he offers an explanation on how the "n-word" derived from the word "negus." The Compton emcee says on the song, "N-E-G-U-S, definition: royalty, king… N-E-G-U-S, description: Black emperor, king, ruler." He ends "i" with, "Kendrick Lamar, by far, realest negus alive."
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Listen to the album version of Kendrick Lamar's "i" below (via Rdio).
Filed under: News Tagged: Kendrick Lamar, n word, to pimp a butterfly
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