How to enjoy rap music when other people are ruining it.

I could ignore them. People of other races who make excuses for using the “N word.” They justify their use of the word by explaining how their black friends use it. They say how they say it around their black friends and it’s okay. They say how if the “N word” is in the music, and they are rapping along with Jay-Z like they are his minion on the mic, that it is okay to use the word as well. People who make excuses for using a potentially hurtful word are not worth my energy.

I like my rap music collection. From newer artists such as Jay-Z, Drake, and Nicki Minaj to legends like Tupac, Dre and Snoop; Biggie, and the Junior Mafia. These artists use the “N word” in their music. No big deal until the word is taken out of the African-American culture and the context in which African-Americans are using it.

I could educate them.Listening to rap music is one thing.Doing something risqué like using the same language that these rappers may use is just insensitive and ignorant.The “N word” originates from a hateful place.It was used during American chattel slavery to keep an enslaved African mentally trapped.The word was redesigned by African Americans after slavery.They claimed it, redefined it, and keep it between them.It is not a hateful slur used in African-American circles.

Not every African American uses the word or finds the word benign. Some African Americans are appalled at the use of the “N word” and feel the pain that it was originated to inflict. Like lashes from the slave owner’s whip, the word can sting and burn and leave a lasting impression. We have claimed it, and it is our word.

I can be patient for the world to change.Other racial groups have slurs.I find it interesting how these slurs have not been used mainstream and these racial groups are told to “get over it, it’s just a word.”

Collectively, we as a people have some changes to make in the words we use that have the potential to hurt others. We have to respect that cultures have words that they use within their circles. When the words are taken out of the circles, it is wrong.

I have read and heard the arguments that using the “N word” is part of the hip-hop culture.I argue that, even if it is part of the hip-hop culture and you are not an African American, it does not give you license to use the “N word.”

To use the word in a public place around me is like starting a battle.I have zero tolerance.My response to offenders is a verbal assault.I lock. Load. Get my point across, andhope I hurt you the way you hurt me.