Music

I don’t like the word, but it is different when a black person uses it.

My mama was raised in the era when

Clean water was only served to the fairer skin

Doin' clothes, you woulda thought I had help

But they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself

You see it's broke nigga racism

That's that "Don't touch anything in the store"

And it's rich nigga racism

That's that "Come in, please buy more"

He’s pointing out that even though he’s wealthy, he still experiences racism. He’s alluding to the history of Jim Crow, while also discussing the fact that it really hasn’t gone away. Like that last verse - he can afford to join the country club now, but will he ever really be welcome?

The first high school I worked at was about 90% Black. The word has a very different meaning in that kind of space. It made me deeply uncomfortable, but I listened to a lot of really interesting conversations between students about the word - because it was basically in every other sentence. Hell, my first day of school I said hi to a student and their response was “this n—— gay!” (I’m white, mostly.)