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Urban Music And The "N" Word

Urban Music and the "N" Word
Culture. "Culture is the totality of socially transmitted behavior, patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought."(www.dictionary.com)
Black culture…
For this essay, I decided to research on a part of the Black culture that I know well. The Black culture is very broad, but I managed to narrow it down to the most controversial issue I know of: Music and the "N" Word. The "N" word has been one of the most controversial topics in the Black community since I can remember. In this essay, I will elaborate on where it originated, what it meant then and what it means now, how it was used, and why it is such a common word that is used fluently throughout Black society and especially in today's music. Though this word didn't have cruel intentions it evolved into downgrading the Black community centuries ago. To this day it is still used by ignorant people, but the Black community have grasped this concept and formed it into a word that means "Brother." I still believe that this term is a poor excuse for a word and should stay in the past.

The history of the word "nigger" ties back to the Latin word, "niger," meaning "Black." This word originally had no meaning for disrespect, but evolved in the Southern states in the early 1800's and carried much hatred and disgust toward Africans and African American communities. This word developed over time and eventually was created to taunt and insult all Blacks.

Over time the word "nigger" was used fluently in everyday life. Postcards, advertisements, television/radio, books, poetry, are just a few of the things that the "N" word was distributed on. This word also had images to support its meaning. In the late 1800's and early 1900's advertisements that obtained the word "nigger" often had a photo representation. Usually a child, maybe an adult, that had dark skin, bulging wide eyes, oversized lips, and were either naked/badly clothed, with nappy hair....