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Eve: never mind about hip-hop, what about, y'know, stuff and... I dunno, shit
In a long and somewhat rambling digression, Eve nearly managed to form an opinion on the 'clean-up hip-hop lyrics' before suddenly misplacing it again:
"I feel like there are so many other (more important) things going on in the world.
"I barely say bitch. I do say it. I usually don't say ho.
"The N-word, more than anything, holds a negative connotation. It's a word I grew up with and that's a word that's never threatened me and I've never used it in a threatening manner. I feel like if that's a word that's going to be removed, it has to be a movement and we all need to do it at the same time.
"I still haven't decided where I stand all the way.
"It's not just hip-hop, and that's the thing that makes me mad. Those words have been a part of everyone's vocabulary at some point in everyone's life. Black, white, whatever. Hip-hop, pop, rock. So it makes me mad that the fingers are being pointed at hip-hop for those certain words.
"There are movies that come out every year where a woman is being smacked up and beat down by a man. Let's talk about domestic violence. No men will stand up (for that). They want to say, 'I want to take these certain words out of a song.' But a lot of men that are hitting women won't stand up and say, 'You know what? I'm gonna stop hitting my women today.'
"That's what we need to be fighting. Stuff like that. There are a lot of different issues."
"I barely say bitch. I do say it. I usually don't say ho.
"The N-word, more than anything, holds a negative connotation. It's a word I grew up with and that's a word that's never threatened me and I've never used it in a threatening manner. I feel like if that's a word that's going to be removed, it has to be a movement and we all need to do it at the same time.
"I still haven't decided where I stand all the way.
"It's not just hip-hop, and that's the thing that makes me mad. Those words have been a part of everyone's vocabulary at some point in everyone's life. Black, white, whatever. Hip-hop, pop, rock. So it makes me mad that the fingers are being pointed at hip-hop for those certain words.
"There are movies that come out every year where a woman is being smacked up and beat down by a man. Let's talk about domestic violence. No men will stand up (for that). They want to say, 'I want to take these certain words out of a song.' But a lot of men that are hitting women won't stand up and say, 'You know what? I'm gonna stop hitting my women today.'
"That's what we need to be fighting. Stuff like that. There are a lot of different issues."
So, erm, is that clear? Something about how if wife-beaters don't stop hitting women, then there's no reason to take out the n-word, which has never been threatening but simultaneously has a negative connotation.
We're not sure if Eve has heard rock or pop songs which drop "nigger" into their lyrics, but - unless she goes shopping for tapes at BNP fairs - we're fairly sure she hasn't; and if she had, she wouldn't be quite so laid back about it.
Still, the "why should we clean up our acts if other people don't clear up theirs" is identical to the White House's line on pollution, which means if she can sort out the DUI trouble, Eve could fit in easily into front line politics.
3 comments:
It's probably nit-picking, but Elvis Costello, Patti Smith and John Lennon and Dead Kennedys have all used the word 'nigger' in their lyrics, so there are at least trace elements of the word in rock.
... and let's not forget Birdland.
Actually, let's forget Birdland.
But the examples cited there all used the word in a very, very precise political way, rather than tossing it in to the song because they needed a rhyme for 'bigger'.
Funnily enough, I nearly did mention Birdland, but I didn't know if anyone else would remember them; are you sure you're not Chris Roberts?
You're right about the context being important in these examples, which is why I stated that I might be nitpicking. As with a lot of these things, it's not the word that's the problem, more the mindset of those who feel the need to use it, as you say, just because they need a rhyme for bigger. Or trigger. Hopefully in a couple of years people who feel the need to use it will be held in the same high regard as those who stand in shopping centres shouting at the dustbins.
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