One of hip-hop’s most powerful mourning anthems put Midwest hip-hop on the map. Producer Sadat X couldn’t get the “what I am” refrain from Edie Brickell’s 1988 hit to fit an Ohio Players drum break, so he brought a vocalist in to sing it, not that anyone noticed. But Brand Nubian were so good they made it seem like a sure thing. “That’s what the song is about.”Īn Afrocentric crew who rapped about not dating crackheads were hardly natural stars. “Even amongst all that dark and destitution, there’s that underlying possibility that you just might be able to do it,” Keys said. With a vocal from Keys, the song took on an angelic power. This towering New York anthem began as a demo by Angela Hunte, who grew up in the same Brooklyn building as Jay Z, and Jane’t Sewell-Ulepic. Jay Z and Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”.“ my underdog song,” she said, “but it’s become the biggest song.” In 2008, it blew up into one of the unlikeliest Top 10 jams ever. “Paper Planes” was a Clash-sampling shot at immigrant-fearing Westerners, complete with gunshot sound effects. Maya Arulpragasam was a globally connected radical who turned into one of hip-hop’s most forward-thinking artists. “Get Low” was the Number Two hit that signaled the peak of the high-energy, high-alcohol-content, shout-happy movement known as “crunk.” Ying Yang Twins brought the “to the windows, to the walls” hook (originally a black fraternity chant), and yowler-producer Lil Jon flipped it into over-the-top party music. “When I was singing ‘Grab it like you want it,’ I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about,” Tigra recalled. What's the difference between a 'nigga' and a 'nigger'?" He was being a smartass and, not even seconds later, regretted asking me that question.The first national Miami bass hit came from Lady Tigra and Bunny D, teenagers with personality for days who met as dancers on a local TV show and had rhyme battles with boys in the high school lunchroom. I'd be at the keg and he'd come up to me like, "Ernest, when you get a second, I have a question to ask you." Finally, he goes, "Don't get offended, serious question, I'm only curious. This kid kept trying to get my attention in what appeared to be a benign manner. Despite the fact that I was okay with, like, 15,000 white people yelling "nigga" around me at a concert, it was only a few months before that I punched a white boy in his mouth for doing the same thing at a party. I guess enough rap concerts will do that to you. What can you do? Around the same time, Kanye told TIME that he didn't like the word and attempted to replace it with "homie" on "Crack Music," but that it "just didn't have the same impact."īut lately, more and more, I’m beginning to feel like it doesn’t matter. 1 song in America for 10 weeks and before the chorus kicked in he screamed, "White people! This is your one chance to say nigga!" And believe me when I say that most of them did, just like they do during the Michael Jackson part on "All of the Lights," if you’ve been to any of his recent tours. Is that what ScHoolboy Q and Meek Mill are thinking when they say they don't mind if white people say "nigga" at their shows? At one of the first concerts I ever went to, Kanye West ranted about how "Gold Digger" had been the No. We took away its racist connotations so effectively that it's gotten to the point where some white people call each other "nigga" as a term of endearment. We use it incessantly in the most popular music. ![]() Yeah, it'd be great if no white person ever said "nigga," but that's unrealistic, and part of the blame falls to black people. Fact is, there is a difference between both words and only with the latter are lines blurred on the acceptableness of use by non-blacks. ![]() Obviously, whites who use the word with malicious intent are liable to get cursed out or hit in the face, but those people would probably say "nigger" before they said "nigga" and they're not who I'm talking about anyway. I don't give a fuck if Justin Bieber said "nigga" in a joke when he was 15. It's just a waste of time to be up in arms over a single word every other day. My gut tells me that I should be offended every time a non-black person uses it, but as much as I hate to say it, I'm not. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to respond to that word anymore. Respect to those who haven't-even when singing along to rap music by themselves-but it seems like they account for an extremely small percentage of the population. I'm going to assume that every white person has said "nigga" at least once in their life.
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