Kendrick Lamar calls out white fan for rapping n-word onstage with him at concert

Viva · May 22, 2018

OsakaDon said:
OK, I actually think this is an interesting question. So black rappers are producing mass media entertainment (music) which is intended to be listened to and most like sung along with by hundreds of thousands or millions of people. So the music people produce is for the entertainment of their audience, right? They are not sending private messages to select members of their own personal group. So isn't it a little strange to be peppering in words you don't want people using in your music?
Also isn't the usage of the word in a certain context racist? I mean if it's being used as a term of endearment in the song, and you are singing the song, which is an attempt to replicate the meaning and message of the original writer, how does is become racist? In the context of singing the song you are becoming the personal of the original author are you not?

I think its an interesting debate. I could easily see a case for both sides.

You're primary assumption is questionable - that artists create for a set audience and should therefore create in a way that accomodates their needs. That isn't really how it works...the audience follows the art, rather than the other way around.

I don't think you meant it in this way...but this is the kind of menal gymnastics that flips the responsiblity onto black people in a way that we'd never do for a majority of other groups.

But even if that were true...I don't understand why people find it so hard to leave out a word that has such pain attached to it. Even if you had a right to use it...why wouldn't you just take a moment, recognise the complexity of the situation and refrain. Why INSIST on using the word. It's baffling.

Vakuf · May 22, 2018

Don't use the word in your lyrics then... this shit makes no sense to me.

Deleted member 26526 · May 22, 2018

Beach said:
Seems like everything worked out and the situation was handled nicely from both sides.

Cant say the same about this thread though.

I had a look through the ban wave and was mildly amused if a little concerned at the # of people assuming it was ok to say

I'm usually a professional fence sitter on most things
But when it comes to things like this I know the right side of the fence to be on and I don't ever want to be on the wrong side!

SolmisateSol · May 22, 2018

Nice Kendrick, that's a very gracious way to correct someone's behavior.

Phunkydiabetic · May 22, 2018

Did Kendrick set this girl up or something? I mean white people make up the majority of your sales, and the majority of people in the crowd were white but it's bizarre he wouldn't pick a black person to come up and sing the tune with him. Was this done on purpose? Was this some sort of PR thing? Or some kind of avant garde way at tackling white people singing along to the songs you wrote and saying "nigga" when they shouldn't have?

Lunar15 · May 22, 2018

Feels like the whole thing went down pretty graciously.

Nepenthe · May 22, 2018

Y'all have one clear-cut rule to follow and you can't even handle that. It's astounding, really.

Hoxworth · May 22, 2018

CloudWolf said:
I mean, that specific song does feature the word quite a lot, it's not like she added the words. I doubt she would end up being accused for inciting hate speech just for singing words in a song.

Still not a very smart thing to do when you're in the spotlights at a major festival of course.

Why do you doubt that? The courts said context doesn't matter with that Nazi dog salute case.

MadJakeChurchill · May 22, 2018

Budi said:
No it's probably this https://genius.com/a/u-k-woman-char...ing-grossly-offensive-rap-lyrics-on-instagram

Gonna put my lawyer cap on for a second and say that this also constitutes a hate crime.

"Harm a minority group". It may seem harsh, but that's the law. Totally unequivocal wherever possible.

Lunar15 said:
Feels like the whole thing went down pretty graciously.

It did. People just want to be upset about not saying a single word.

GodofWine · May 22, 2018

EDIT - Text isn't conveying my thoughts properly - or people are just trying to purposely not understand - so have fun in this thread

White people shouldn't ever use the word.

Dark Cloud · May 22, 2018

Anytime this topic turns up you already know how it's going to end (in terms of posting).

All was good in the end. You learn and move on.

ElectricBlanketFire · May 22, 2018

Holy crap fellow white people just don't say the word. Is it really that hard?

Yasuke · May 22, 2018

GodofWine said:
If you write it in the song, and sell that song to people, millions of people, many of which are non-blacks, and they listen to it over and over, it will just come out of their mouths as they're singing along. Overuse of the word removes the sting from it.

Don't act shocked. This seems like a set up, maybe. SHE wasn't saying it on her own accord, she was simply saying what he said.

This is why education outside of music is important.

ElectricBlanketFire said:
Holy crap fellow white people just don't say the word. Is it really that hard?

Their continued stance on this is white privilege in a nutshell.

Cipherr · May 22, 2018

DigitalOp said:
I wish the cost to say nigga turned you into a black person.

All of you would opt out so fast. This thread is funny

Wheeeeewwwww

It would be hilarious to see if possible. The entire desire to say the word under any situation would vanish like a fart in the wind.

TheChuggernaut · May 22, 2018

ElectricBlanketFire said:
Holy crap fellow white people just don't say the word. Is it really that hard?

IF WE CAN'T SAY IT NO ONE CAN

/s

Nepenthe · May 22, 2018

GodofWine said:
SHE wasn't saying it on her own accord, she was simply saying what he said.

So now white people aren't accountable for their own words because black people are just pied pipers now.

Blader · May 22, 2018

PoppaBK said:
Sure but it is just kinda arbitrary. They are hearing it, they are saying it in their head, its the act of verbalizing it that creates harm? I'm just not sure how anything changes if someone enunciates the syllables or not when in the context of quoting someone.

...YES.

Nobody can hear whatever shit is rattling around in your head. Words become offensive when they actually become words.

Deleted member 2809 · May 22, 2018

ElectricBlanketFire said:
Holy crap fellow white people just don't say the word. Is it really that hard?

Not saying one word is very hard you know ! Like when I speak to my mother I can't stop throwing slurs at her, it's just the way it is.

chezzymann · May 22, 2018

She messed up and this is a good learning experience for a lot of people about never using the word in any context, but calling her a racist or a piece of shit like some people are doing in this thread is a little ridiculous.

marrec · May 22, 2018

Beach said:
Seems like everything worked out and the situation was handled nicely from both sides.

Cant say the same about this thread though.

Lots of white people really really want an excuse to say the n-word and get very upset when people tell them they can't do it.

They'll go out of their way to try and justify their use of it, instead of just doing the right fucking thing.

Glad that the actual incident turned into a teaching moment where people actually learned something.

MBeanie · May 22, 2018

If you want to use the word, go ahead, just don't claim you're being victimized when people react.

And no black artist is obliged to remove the word from their lyrics because you can't respect the history of the word enough to excercise the bare minimum of willpower.

Mooner · May 22, 2018

Vakuf said:
Don't use the word in your lyrics then... this shit makes no sense to me.

Look, another white man trying to tell black artists what to do. Such a shocker in ERA

Braaier · May 22, 2018

chezzymann said:
She messed up and this is a good learning experience for a lot of people about never using the word in any context, but calling her a racist or a piece of shit like some people are doing in this thread is a little ridiculous.

Yeah, agreed. Some people just need to take a breath and look at the context here

BossAttack · May 22, 2018

Clicks thread.
Reads responses.

Kermit said:
*start moving on.

I say in the sense that the debates over the use of the word are the cause of a lot of frayed tension between black people and non-black, and it's usually the people who are trying to be respectful that are made to feel frustrated and sidelined.

I say that as a white person who despises the word, would never use it in any context, and fully who acknowledges the centuries of abuse black people and people of colour have suffered.

I simply cannot see how argument that 'you can't say it, but we can' will bring us closer together and heal the seismic rift (that white people are very much the cause of, may I add).

GodofWine · May 22, 2018

Edit- not worth it - text isn't conveying my thoughts.

White people SHOULD NOT SAY THIS WORD.

Blader · May 22, 2018

GodofWine said:
If you write it in the song, and sell that song to people, millions of people, many of which are non-blacks, and they listen to it over and over, it will just come out of their mouths as they're singing along. Overuse of the word removes the sting from it.

Don't act shocked. This seems like a set up, maybe. SHE wasn't saying it on her own accord, she was simply saying what he said.

Edit - And I agree - no one should use that word.

You agree no one should use that word, unless they've heard it in a song over and over again and just can't help themselves but sing along to it.

I'm white and have no problem skipping over the word if I'm singing along. I don't think I'm special this regard, unless not wanting to say the n-word in context is a special quality (which, given some of the responses in this thread, maybe it is :lol)

Phunkydiabetic said:
Did Kendrick set this girl up or something? I mean white people make up the majority of your sales, and the majority of people in the crowd were white but it's bizarre he wouldn't pick a black person to come up and sing the tune with him. Was this done on purpose? Was this some sort of PR thing? Or some kind of avant garde way at tackling white people singing along to the songs you wrote and saying "nigga" when they shouldn't have?

She was not the only person he invited on stage to sing with him

Deleted member 32822 · May 22, 2018

Phunkydiabetic said:
Did Kendrick set this girl up or something? I mean white people make up the majority of your sales, and the majority of people in the crowd were white but it's bizarre he wouldn't pick a black person to come up and sing the tune with him. Was this done on purpose? Was this some sort of PR thing? Or some kind of avant garde way at tackling white people singing along to the songs you wrote and saying "nigga" when they shouldn't have?

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but it is very suspicious. It does feel like he wanted to make an example out of her.

T'Challa Shakur · May 22, 2018

BossAttack said:
Clicks thread.
Reads responses.

Perfect Response.

TheChuggernaut · May 22, 2018

Shugga said:
Not saying one word is very hard you know ! Like when I speak to my mother I can't stop throwing slurs at her, it's just the way it is.

One time I was driving with my parents and a Kendrick Lamar song came up on my playlist. I just started screaming the lyrics as loud as I could, specifically the n-word. They seemed startled by this so I turned and told them "Kendrick shouldn't of put it in his song if he didn't want me to sing it."

Cake Boss · May 22, 2018

TheBeardedOne said:
Why invite her up to rap that song then? If it's a lyric in the song then she probably assumed she was expected to rap along with him and say it. It's hard not to feel like she was baited. And if so that's not right.

hahahahahahahahaha wut??

What is this fuckery response in 2018, in this place of all places.

Mass Effect · May 22, 2018

Hey I was there for this. I was actually going to make a thread about it.

The other fan invited up didn't have trouble skipping over the word.

Nepenthe said:
Y'all have one clear-cut rule to follow and you can't even handle that. It's astounding, really.

Virtually everyone in the (majority white) crowd was saying nigga though. I really don't think it can be stopped.

Scuffed · May 22, 2018

It's an important message and white people using the N-word is trash even if it's in a song but I think a set up using a fan is kind of unfortunate because I don't think she is racist but I expect she is getting destroyed right now on social media. I mean even here she is getting it pretty hard.

Ahasverus · May 22, 2018

I don't agree with this. It's in the song she's "playing a character".

However they both acted classy.

RoninChaos · May 22, 2018

I love Kendrick, and I dig how he gets people up on stage, but Good kid M.A.A.D city is NOT the song I'd choose if I wanted to bring some white college chick to the stage. That girl was probably hella nervous because she was on stage with an artist she likes enough that she bought a ticket to go to his show.

Last year Kendrick was on Howard Stern saying that white people should censor themselves from saying the n-word if they're rapping along with a rap song, and I agree with that. I still listen to old 90's hip hop where the n-word could be more common than the word "fuck". I never say the word when I'm rapping along with the lyrics. But I still gotta say maybe that's not the song to get a white fan up on stage to perform with you. Maybe do something like A.D.H.D. or some other song where the n-word isn't part of the chorus.

spam musubi · May 22, 2018

Daffy Duck said:
She's lucky she isn't in the UK as she would probably end up doing jail time for inciting hatred/hate speech.

Is this for real? What kind of breitbart/old forum garbage remark is this?

Driggonny · May 22, 2018

ElectricBlanketFire said:
Holy crap fellow white people just don't say the word. Is it really that hard?

Everyday I fight the urge to go on random racist rants while spouting the n-word :(

EMPATHIZE WITH MY STRUGGLE DAMMIT

SurrenderDorothy · May 22, 2018

TheChuggernaut said:
One time I was driving with my parents and a Kendrick Lamar song came up on my playlist. I just started screaming the lyrics as loud as I could, specifically the n-word. They seemed startled by this so I turned and told them "Kendrick shouldn't of put it in his song if he didn't want me to sing it."

Blader · May 22, 2018

Mass Effect said:
Hey I was there for this. I was actually going to make a thread about it.

The other fan invited up didn't have trouble skipping over the word.

The other guy also crushed his performance :lol

Kewlmyc · May 22, 2018

chezzymann said:
She messed up and this is a good learning experience for a lot of people about never using the word in any context, but calling her a racist or a piece of shit like some people are doing in this thread is a little ridiculous.

My thoughts in a nutshell.

Mass Effect · May 22, 2018

TheBeardedOne said:
Why invite her up to rap that song then? If it's a lyric in the song then she probably assumed she was expected to rap along with him and say it. It's hard not to feel like she was baited. And if so that's not right.

Bullshit. Another fan went up there before her and had no trouble not saying nigga.

Kendrick even mentioned the rule to her after she did it once and gave her another chance and she still did it again.

Dark Cloud · May 22, 2018

Mass Effect said:
Hey I was there for this. I was actually going to make a thread about it.

The other fan invited up didn't have trouble skipping over the word.

Virtually everyone in the (majority white) crowd was saying nigga though. I really don't think it can be stopped.

Of course the vast majority in the crowd was saying it. It will never change.

PoppaBK · May 22, 2018

ElectricBlanketFire said:
Holy crap fellow white people just don't say the word. Is it really that hard?

I am pretty sure I will be able to complete the entirety of the rest of my life without saying that word. I just don't think someone is an insensitive ignorant piece of shit who deserves to be harrased and bullied because they sang the lyrics to a song which had no inherent negative message.

Braaier · May 22, 2018

First, white people don't say that word. Second, most of you people can't sing so keep your fucking mouths shut and it wouldn't even be an issue. Yuo can't sing, no one wants to hear you sing. Bop your head to the song. That's it.

MadJakeChurchill · May 22, 2018

chezzymann said:
She messed up and this is a good learning experience for a lot of people about never using the word in any context, but calling her a racist or a piece of shit like some people are doing in this thread is a little ridiculous.

Like how calling Kendrick a "baiter" when he was totally courteous and polite about it...then filling an 11-page thread with replies that are all exactly the same is ridiculous too.

Nepenthe · May 22, 2018

GodofWine said:
No they are, but when you are singing along in a car or something , alone, and it slips out..its not like it was being used in anger, it was being used because an artist they like says it and its really kinda turns into just a lyric.

No one should use that word - I don't use it, I don't say it, I even think I don't say it in the car alone when listening to music that does say it.

Racial bias and ignorance isn't perpetuated only with malice, nor is the context of what the word means coming from white people diminished in that context.

Y'all aren't gonna get a wholesale pass for this anytime soon.

SurrenderDorothy · May 22, 2018

PoppaBK said:
I am pretty sure I will be able to complete the entirety of the rest of my life without saying that word. I just don't think someone is an insensitive ignorant piece of shit who deserves to be harrased and bullied because they sang the lyrics to a song which had no inherent negative message.

Wait, when did this turn into a harassment campaign? I thought we all agreed that she knew her mistake and moved on.

Gordon Shumway · May 22, 2018

Nepenthe said:
Y'all have one clear-cut rule to follow and you can't even handle that. It's astounding, really.

It's like not calling your moms or girlfriend/wife a bitch. Except I'm guessing these folks would, since not saying nigga is such a back breaking chore lol..

Deleted member 2809 · May 22, 2018

nynt9 said:
Is this for real? What kind of breitbart/old forum garbage remark is this?

A pretty transparent attempt at derailing his own thread.

Sliver · May 22, 2018

nynt9 said:
Is this for real? What kind of breitbart/old forum garbage remark is this?

Sorry, but it's truthful and accurate. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-43816921

RedMercury · May 22, 2018

Vakuf said:
Don't use the word in your lyrics then... this shit makes no sense to me.

I don't think it's your place to police that tbh

Kendrick Lamar calls out white fan for rapping n-word onstage with him at concert

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