How about nobody say it. It sounds stupid. We’re “reclaiming the word”. How? It was never our word to begin with. It came from a place of hate, and degradation, yet we want to put a spin on it.
I think the ancestors are serving Russell Simmons some stress these days. There was no N-word used in the beginning years of the genre until he pushed for it and other language in hip-hop.
Some of the 50 years of Hip Hop history.
en.wikipedia.org
"Tillard became known as the "
Hip-Hop Minister," as he both criticized hip hop lyrics, and defused potentially violent feuds between
rappers.
[25][26][19][27][8][28] He appears in the documentary
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.
[29]
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Tillard was an outspoken critic of hip hop lyrics that he perceived as degrading and dangerous to Blacks. He said such lyrics suggested "that we are penny-chasing, Champagne-drinking, gold-teeth-wearing, modern-day Sambos, pimps and players."
[17] He believed that in seeking to emulate the lyrics in gangsta rap, young Black Americans became victims of mass incarceration, violence, sexual exploitation, and drug crime.
[25]
In the 1990s, he started an organization called A Movement for C.H.H.A.N.G.E. ("Conscious Hip Hop Activism Necessary for Global Empowerment"), to advocate for "conscious hip hop activism", voter registration and education, community organizing, and social empowerment for black youth.
[30][7][14][1] He criticized hip-hop lyrics that portrayed American black communities as degenerate. He also criticized the businessmen who supported that approach.
He feuded with Def Jam founder Russell Simmons in 2001, accusing him of stoking violence by allowing the frequent use of words such as "nikka" and "bytch" in rap lyrics.[14][17][31]
Tillard became a fixture in hip-hop after he arranged a meeting and a truce in a feud between rising bands
Wreckx-N-Effect and
A Tribe Called Quest.
[32][18][14][19] Tillard also counseled
Sean "Diddy" Combs during his feud with rival
Suge Knight, and criticized him for what he saw as his mistreatment of
Shyne Barrow.