Yelawolf on white rappers using the N word:
“I mean - I’m from the South, and that shit don’t fly. In Alabama … put it this way, there are grandparents alive today whose parents went through a war, you know … we’re just out of the slave trade. It was a very real, very real situation. And you know, you don’t take that shit lightly.
Especially … hip hop, and american music culture is Black. Culture. Don’t ever get it fucked up. You … know your roots, know where the fuck you’re getting this music from and respect it. And don’t embarrass white people and white rappers by doing that dumb shit. By dropping the n-bomb you thinking you’re all cool and shit, you’re gonna find yourself slapped up, and it might be by a white boy. You know, cause you ain’t gonna embarrass me around my people like that. It ain’t gonna happen.
And you know, I try to tell people that … you know, it’s different when - I have some white boy friends of mine who grew up in the streets, in and out of prison, real dope boys, you know, and like … and even in that world how accepting they are and their black homies are - they share that word and bounce back and forth with each other - but even them, after they hang around me it’s like, ‘man, we were kinda trippin, huh?’
Like, it’s not - just don’t get it fucked up, man, you gotta respect your elders at the end of the day; you’re still dealing with an issues that’s very - we’re not far away from real, real life problems. You know, Obama is the president, but it doesn’t mean - less than 50 years ago, people were getting … shh, you know. People were still getting mobbed, you know. This shit ain’t no joke. So I mean, you know … some people have the birthright to use that word. I mean, I don’t know. As a white rapper it’s always been a big no-no but as a human being it’s been an even bigger no-no.
Whenever I would have said that around the house, just playing around, my mom would slap the SHIT out of me. That was just it. My mom did not play that shit. Because, you know, I’m from Alabama man, we got … this don’t fly like that, you know? And the same person who would slap the shit out of me if I was to say that, is the same person to wear a dixie flag on her shirt. It’s a culture that a lot of people don’t understand, but where I’m from that shit don’t fly and I ain’t backing it. That’s all I gotta say about that.”
This plus Brother Ali on the N-word and white privilege > most of the discussion about it in academic settings.
Rappers are smart.
