"G" To World: Stop Bitching And Fight For A World Where I Can Say "Nigga" Freely

Apr 25, 2008

"G" To World: Stop Bitching And Fight For A World Where I Can Say "Nigga" Freely · by R.H.S.

“This is a rainbow. It might be in Africa, but that’s neither here nor there.”

G from GrandGood has a lot to say about racism in hip-hop. Unfortunately, most of it is a bit difficult to comprehend and leads nowhere.

“Peace to everyone who felt the need to respond to my recent post about racism. Apologies to everyone who read it looking for some kind of significant insight.”

It’s all good dunny. I never expect to encounter genuine insight in the hip hop blogosphere and your post didn’t surprise in the least.

“a half-hearted vent, filled with my dry humor, about a common prejudice that I come across in the hip-hop community.”

Only half-hearted? That’s an odd claim – are we supposed to care about your viewpoint or not? And “filled” with dry humor – if you have to overexplain yourself for people to get the joke, you failed. As far “common” prejudice – just how common? More common than other forms of prejudice encountered? Pervasive enough to be considered noteworthy and detrimental to progress in general? Entirely irrational or partly understandable? Rooted in larger social issues and the historical legacy of racism and in need of more perspicacious analysis or not? You know you don’t have to blog your thoughts the very nanosecond they arrive at the forefront of your mind, right?

“The idea I was trying to convey that got lost in the shuffle is how much I despise racism.”

Try a whole-hearted, persuasive approach next time. Also, if GrandGood had mentioned Sean Bell more than once in the past year, your claim might be more believable. You need more people, akh.

“If you choose to continue to identify yourself and others primarily according to race, instead of one’s socio-economic background, then you choose to limit your impact.”

Says you. We can play post-modernist rhetorical games all we want while singing Kumbaya around a campfire at a multi-culti rap concert featuring Brother Ali, The Roots, and Tego Calderon, and G-Child, but people of color will still be disproportionately affected by housing discrimination, educational inequality, police brutality and a host of other ills that are far more vexing and difficult to untangle than a couple of people on the internet questioning the credibility of allegedly colorblind white cultural commentators. Can you back up your claim that racial consciousness or identification is inherently detrimental to progressive political movements without resorting to circular logic? I’m doubtful, but I won’t rule out the possibility that you might at least try.

“And if this kind of racism gains ground in hip-hop then it will contribute to our dis-empowerment.”

Translation: “this is a half-hearted attempt at wisdom but a whole-hearted lunge towards nebulousness.”

“Yeah but Bob Dylan was rapping on that one song!”

“Although hip-hop began with a few particular races in a small part of the world, today it is representative of any group of individuals that can relate to the same set of circumstances. Just because you are black does not give you a pass into hip-hop. But being non-black does not automatically exclude you either.”

The “logic” here is interesting. I love how G depicts racial identity and socio-economic status as a kind of arbitrary set of circumstances that are somehow disconnected from historical patterns or cultural antecedents. Just a happy kind of accident that should be overlooked and even de-emphasized in the name of inclusion. Apparently, the struggle for people who do not consider themselves to be a part of the African diaspora to feel at home within hip-hop is more salient issue than the historical circumstances that informed the creation of the culture in the first place? Why? Because G said so!

In G’s world view, the Afro-Diasporic populations that first contributed to hip-hop were not a culturally distinctive group of people at all, but black and brown templates for a deracinated b-boy figure, who could come from anywhere and claim relation to the “same set of circumstances” but would nobly refrain from engaging in racial polemics or identity formation! How convenient! Following this logic, the experience of being Black is not a legitimate common ground for declaring affiliation or allegience, but the experience of being non-black and attempting to claim a space within Black culture while at the same time dictating whether or not race consciousness is consonant with this culture’s evolution – cause for blogging solidarity! Hence, why G has been clowned for his views.

G goes on to make some kind of convoluted point about Fat Joe using the word “nigga,” inclusivity, and the need for people to stop “bitching” about things that anger them (except when the thing that angers you is the response you get using the word “nigga” or claiming your place in hip-hop as a non-black, of course).

BTW, G, isn’t the term “non-black” a racialized categorization? Does the term “cognitive dissonance” mean anything to you?

Comments for ""G" To World: Stop Bitching And Fight For A World Where I Can Say "Nigga" Freely"

In other news, 5 hours after the Sean Bell verdict, here are XXL’s top headlines.

— Rafi Apr 25, 02:37 PM
Wow

RHS come see me tonight at Knitting Factory dogs I will be tabling for my organization

You’re welcome to come through

— T. Reynolds Apr 25, 03:21 PM
Take it to em.

— Justin Apr 25, 07:42 PM
where my niggas is at?

— khal Apr 26, 04:44 PM
Sonned.

— eauhellzgnaw Apr 26, 08:11 PM
this dude writes for a white ass blog with a bunch of white ass cosigners. Not ONE white boy on grandgood staff fool WATCH YOUR MOUTH

— T. Reynolds Apr 27, 05:03 AM
^LOL, hypocrisy much there, pal?

— R.H.S. Apr 27, 07:59 PM
If it makes anyone feel more at ease here it should be noted that not everyone at grandgood is as trusting of the caucazoids.

G is on some Afrika Bambaataa/Zulu nation shit, which i respect. rhs’s analysis of g’s posts have been interesing to read, but were mostly weak personal attacks that dont seem to achieve a lot.

cv

“Don’t whine by the sidelines. empowerment can’t be achieved by feeling frustrated, becoming overwhelmed and resorting to anger and fantasies of violence which inevitably lead to real violence. channel the energy and focus your strength” – G

— cvelasco Apr 27, 08:49 PM
chill for a minute guys, doug e fresh said silence.

— Rafi Apr 28, 02:29 AM
Since when did OhWord become a blog about critiquing other blogs? I agree with a lot of what’s being said here, but I liked it much better when y’all presented your own material instead of tearing apart the (perhaps misguided or lacking) work of others. Just my two cents. No hate, but its simply an observation.

— Agov Apr 28, 09:55 PM
^^^^
OhWord.com: Critiquing other blogs since 2006 http://www.ohword.com/blog/236/status-aint-good

— David Apr 29, 01:30 AM
When did ohword turn into xxlmag.com ?

— dante severe Apr 29, 10:13 AM
rhs to world: im an english teacher so ill criticize your writing even though i dont necessarily disagree with what youre sayin

— sly Apr 29, 03:58 PM
“people of color will still be disproportionately affected by housing discrimination, educational inequality, police brutality and a host of other ills that are far more vexing and difficult to untangle than a couple of people on the internet questioning the credibility of allegedly colorblind white cultural commentators.”

Aside from the housing discrimination, this is just a long way of saying that people of color are disproportionately poor. Now I guess “G’s” argument would be that racial consciousness or identification is detrimental to progressive political movements for a couple reasons. One, you alienate white people. Right or wrong, it’s just a fact that, for instance, white people will be more favorably disposed towards education reform if you say “the schools in cities and poor rural areas are really bad, and something should be done” than if you say “we blacks are disproportionately affected by educational inequality, little white boys and girls have an unfair advantage. Give us some of your money.” Two, it misstates the problem. The problem’s that certain schools are really bad. A disproportionate number of these schools are predominantly attended by blacks, but there are many bad schools predominantly attended by whites as well. Three, racial consciousness, though in principle separable from accusations of racial discrimination, inevitably leads to people thinking that the cause of their problems is racism, that the white policymakers set up these bad schools and employ brutal police tactics and imprison huge numbers of black people because their objective is to screw black people over. Which is counterproductive, because it’s not at all clear that that’s the case, and what you end up seeing is people wasting all their political energies talking about the few instances of real, concrete discrimination they can find, like the Jena Six, when I’m sure there are literally hundreds of vastly more pressing issues in Jena than how six kids got oversentenced for a reprehensible crime. Unless you want to argue that talking about Sean Bell or the Jena Six serves as some kind of metonymy for a conversation about race and criminal justice in America, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to make that case.

— Tray May 4, 07:54 AM

Name		Remember
E-mail
http://
Message
	Textile Help