Nigga

The use of nigger non-pejoratively within the black community was documented in the 1912 novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by African-American writer James Weldon Johnson, in which he recounted a scene in New York City around the turn of the century:{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=James Weldon |title=The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man |pages=88–89 |date=1912}}

I noticed that among this class of colored men the word "nigger" was freely used in about the same sense as the word "fellow," and sometimes as a term of almost endearment; but I soon learned that its use was positively and absolutely prohibited to white men.

There is conflicting popular opinion on whether there is any meaningful difference between nigga and nigger as a spoken term.{{cite web |last=Allen-Taylor |first=J. Douglas |url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.09.98/cover/nigger-9814.html |title=New Word Order |work=Metro Silicon Valley |date=9–15 April 1998 |access-date=1 May 2019}} Many people consider the terms to be equally pejorative, and the use of nigga both in and outside black communities remains controversial.{{cite news |last=Alonso |first=Alex |url=http://www.streetgangs.com/magazine/053003niggas.php |title=Won't You Please Be My Nigga: Double Standards with a Taboo Word |work=Streetgangs Magazine |date=30 May 2003 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104234128/http://www.streetgangs.com/magazine/053003niggas.php |archive-date=4 January 2013|access-date=9 December 2006 |url-status=dead}} H. Lewis Smith, author of Bury That Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair with the N-word, believes that "replacing the 'er' with an 'a' changes nothing other than the pronunciation"{{cite news |last=Smith |first=H. Lewis |url=http://www.blackcommentator.com/214/214_n_word_not_just_another_smith_guest.html |title=Why the N-word Is Not Just Another Word |work=The Black Commentator |date=25 January 2007 |issue=214 |access-date=1 May 2019}} and the African American Registry notes, "Brother (Brotha) and Sister (Sistah or Sista) are terms of endearment. Nigger was and still is a word of disrespect."{{cite web |last1=Middleton |first1=Phil |last2=Pilgrim |first2=David |url=https://aaregistry.org/story/nigger-the-word-a-brief-history/ |title=Nigger (the word), a brief history |publisher=African American Registry |date=2001 |access-date=1 May 2019}} The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights group, condemns use of both nigga and nigger.

Many African-Americans only consider nigga offensive when used by people of other races, with some seeing its use outside a defined social group as an unwelcome cultural appropriation. Used by black people, the term may indicate "solidarity or affection",{{cite news |last=Aldridge |first=Kevin |url=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/08/05/loc_2slurs_often_adopted.html |title=Slurs often adopted by those they insult |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=5 August 2001 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130111005716/http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/08/05/loc_2slurs_often_adopted.html |archive-date=11 January 2013 |access-date=17 October 2006 |url-status=live}} similar to the usage of the words dude, homeboy, and bro. Some consider nigga non-offensive except when directed from a non-African-American towards an African-American. Yet others have derided this as hypocritical and harmful, enabling white racists to use the word and confusing the issue over nigger. Conversely, nigga has been used an example of cultural assimilation, whereby some members of other ethnicities (particularly younger people) will use the word in a positive way, similar to the previously mentioned dude, homeboy, and bro, although this usage remains very controversial.{{cite journal |title=African Americans' perceptions of the "N-Word" in the context of Racial Identity attitudes |first=Keya |last=Wiggins |date=March 2012 |journal=Journal of Pan African Studies |volume=5 |issue=1 |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=08886601&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA306514686&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=fulltext}} Members of other ethnicities will not use the word while around African-Americans, especially those they do not know. {{Cite journal |last=Parks |first=Gregory |date=2008 |title=Nigger: A Critical Race Realist Analysis of the N- Word within Hate Crimes Law |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7306&context=jclc |journal=Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=1310}}

In practice, its use and meaning are heavily dependent on context, with non-offensive examples ranging from a greeting,{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Kennedy |chapter-url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/nigger.htm |chapter=Chapter One: The Protean N-Word |title=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word |year=2002 |place=New York |publisher=Pantheon Books |pages=3–13 |isbn=0-375-42172-6}} to reprimand, to general reference, to a use synonymous with male person.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} {{as of|2007}}, the word nigga was used more liberally by some younger members of all races and ethnicities in the United States.{{cite news |last=Cooke |first=Jeremy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6406625.stm |title=Racial slur banned in New York |work=BBC News |date=1 March 2007 |access-date=1 May 2019}} In addition to African-Americans, other ethnic groups have adopted the term as part of their vernacular, although this usage is very controversial.{{cite news |last1=Aldridge |first1=Kevin |last2=Thompson |first2=Richelle |last3=Winston |first3=Earnest |url=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/08/05/loc_1the_n-word.html |title=The evolving N-word |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=5 August 2001 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130110202405/http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/08/05/loc_1the_n-word.html |archive-date=10 January 2013 |access-date=4 June 2006 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Pierre |first=Kendra |url=http://www.lcmeridian.com/media/storage/paper806/news/2006/05/01/News/nigger.nigga.Or.Neither-1876412.shtml?norewrite200610170024&sourcedomain=www.lcmeridian.com |title='Nigger,' 'Nigga' or Neither? |work=Meridia |publisher=Lehman College |date=1 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309080959/http://www.lcmeridian.com/media/storage/paper806/news/2006/05/01/News/nigger.nigga.Or.Neither-1876412.shtml?norewrite200610170024&sourcedomain=www.lcmeridian.com |archive-date=9 March 2009}}

The phrase nigga, please, used in the 1970s by comics such as Paul Mooney as "a funny punctuation in jokes about Blacks",{{cite web |first=Darryl |last=Fears |url=http://www.bet.com/Entertainment/jacksonmooneynwordboycott.htm?Referrer=%7B03CE5360-2620-42CB-AD7E-77E4249C5FB7%7D |title=Jesse Jackson, Paul Mooney Call for End of N-Word |work=BET |date=27 November 2006 |access-date=10 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070330013842/http://www.bet.com/Entertainment/jacksonmooneynwordboycott.htm?Referrer=%7B03CE5360-2620-42CB-AD7E-77E4249C5FB7%7D |archive-date=30 March 2007 |url-status=dead |quote="Mooney's use of the word in the 1970s made it a funny punctuation in jokes about Blacks, as in “Nigga please!” Soon, movie producers were using the word to make on-screen dialogue more graphic and street-wise..."}} is now heard routinely in comedy routines by African-Americans. The growing use of the term is often attributed to its ubiquity in modern American hip hop music.{{cite news |first=Darryl |last=Fears |title=Patent offense: Wayans's hip-hop line |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=15 March 2006 |access-date=10 December 2018 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401960.html}}{{cite magazine |first=Rogers |last=Cadenhead |url=https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70259-0.html |title=Actor Tries to Trademark 'N' Word |magazine=Wired |date=23 February 2006 |access-date=10 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212073724/http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70259-0.html |archive-date=12 February 2007 |publisher=CondéNet Inc. |url-status=live}}

One of the earliest uses of the term in a popular song was in the lyrics of the 1983 song "New York New York" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, although it had featured in some very early hip hop recordings such as "Scoopy Rap" and "Family Rap", both from 1979. Ol' Dirty Bastard uses the term 76 times in his Nigga Please album (not including repetitions in choruses).

Comedian Chris Rock's 1996 routine "Niggas vs. Black People" distinguishes a "nigga", which he defined as a "low-expectation-havin' motherfucker", from a "black person". In contrast, Tupac Shakur distinguished between nigger and nigga: "Niggers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing; niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs."{{cite interview |last=Shakur |first=Tupac |subject-link=Tupac Shakur |interviewer=Tabitha Soren |title=2Pac interview with Tabitha Soren |publisher=MTV |date=27 October 1995 |url=http://www.makavelithedon.de/makaveli/Interviews/27_oktober_95.htm |via=2PacAveli.de}} Tupac, who has been credited with legitimizing the term, said his song "N.I.G.G.A." stood for "Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished".{{cite news |title=Racial slur takes center stage at Stillman |first=Desiree |last=Hunter |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |location=Tuscaloosa, AL |date=24 February 2007 |url=http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070224/NEWS/702240362?p=3&tc=pg |quote=Rapper Tupac Shakur was credited with legitimizing the term "nigga" when he came out with the song 'N.I.G.G.A.', which he said stood for 'Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished'. |access-date=10 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209055144/http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070224/NEWS/702240362?p=3&tc=pg |archive-date=9 February 2016}}

In 2001, a public disagreement between Conrad Tillard (activist and minister then, Conrad Muhammad) and Russell Simmons (Def Jam co-founder) erupted about the portrayal in media of hip hop culture, especially that of rap music. Tillard argued that the use of bitch and nigga by rappers is "degrad[ing] the African-American community" through its "bombardment of ... negative images". He directly accused Simmons of "condoning violence by refusing to condemn the frequent use of [these words] in rap lyrics" in the lead up to both parties organizing gatherings to discuss hip hop culture.{{cite web |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2001/04/24/hip-hop-war/ |title=Hip Hop War |date=April 24, 2001 |first=Peter |last=Noel |work=The Village Voice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916000159/https://www.villagevoice.com/2001/04/24/hip-hop-war/ |archive-date=September 16, 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=December 10, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/16/nyregion/keeping-the-faith-differently-a-harlem-firebrand-quietly-returns-to-christianity.html |url-access=subscription |title=Keeping the Faith, Differently; A Harlem Firebrand Quietly Returns to Christianity |date=June 16, 2003 |first=Alan |last=Feuer |work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527233707/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/16/nyregion/keeping-the-faith-differently-a-harlem-firebrand-quietly-returns-to-christianity.html |archive-date=May 27, 2015 |url-status=live |access-date=December 10, 2022}} Rapper KRS-One publicly supported Tillard, but stated that "if an artist feels he has to use the 'n' or 'b' words, that's a poetic debate. What we're saying is you cannot package the word muthaf---er to our children."[censoring quoted]{{cite web |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/misrur/krs-one-condemns-negative-rap-imagery-at-hip-hop-summit |title=KRS-One Condemns Negative Rap Imagery At Hip-Hop Summit |date=May 10, 2001 |first=Shaheem |last=Reid |work=MTV |publisher=Viacom International |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209161757/https://www.mtv.com/news/misrur/krs-one-condemns-negative-rap-imagery-at-hip-hop-summit |archive-date=December 9, 2022 |url-status=dead |access-date=December 10, 2022}} Tillard's own Campaign for Dignity Meeting in April was boycotted by Simmons, who also encouraged others to not attend, while Simmons organized the Hip Hop Summit in June, which Tillard attended.{{cite web |url=https://hiphopandpolitics.com/2013/11/06/hip-hop-history-remembering-historic-2001-hip-hop-summit-farrakhans-incredible-speech/ |title=Hip Hop History: Remembering the Historic 2001 Hip Hop Summit & Farrakhan's Incredible Speech |date=November 6, 2013 |author=MrDaveyD |work=Hip Hop and Politics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107041310/https://hiphopandpolitics.com/2013/11/06/hip-hop-history-remembering-historic-2001-hip-hop-summit-farrakhans-incredible-speech/ |archive-date=November 7, 2013 |url-status=live |access-date=December 10, 2022}} The disagreement has been referred to as a "feud", and the two were successfully encouraged by Louis Farrakhan (head of the Nation of Islam) at Simmons' summit to bury the hatchet and show public unity.{{cite web |url=https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:25566259 |title=Ernie Paniccioli archive, #8079. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections: Conrad Muhammad, Russell Simmons |date=2001 |author=Ernie Paniccioli |work=Cornell University Library |access-date=December 10, 2022}}

The song "R & B" from Devin the Dude's second solo album Just Tryin' ta Live (2002) features a comedic conversation between Devin and "a redneck" (voiced by Devin) exploring a cultural divide and how it might be overcome by the liberal application of "reefer and beer". The song culminates with Devin frustrated by the redneck failing to correctly pronounce nigga.{{cite web |url=https://www.rapreviews.com/2002/10/devin-the-dude-just-tryin-ta-live/ |title=Devin the Dude: Just Tryin' ta Live |date=October 1, 2002 |first=Steve |last=Juon |website=Rap Reviews |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201151306/https://www.rapreviews.com/2002/10/devin-the-dude-just-tryin-ta-live/ |archive-date=December 1, 2020 |access-date=January 6, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/devin-the-dude-just-tryin-ta-live-1798197915/amp |title=Devin The Dude: Just Tryin' Ta Live |date=October 11, 2002 |first=Nathan |last=Rabin |website=The A.V. Club |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106222218/https://www.avclub.com/devin-the-dude-just-tryin-ta-live-1798197915/amp |archive-date=January 6, 2023 |access-date=January 6, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/just-tryin-ta-live-mw0000228879 |title=Devin the Dude: Just Tryin' ta Live |first=Brad |last=Mills |website=AllMusic |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203182012/https://www.allmusic.com/album/just-tryin-ta-live-mw0000228879 |archive-date=December 3, 2012 |access-date=January 6, 2023}}

In the 2004 Coen brothers film The Ladykillers, the antagonist is Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall), an elderly church-going landlady with moral certainty living in the Baptist bible belt, who is introduced making a complaint to her local sheriff about her neighbour playing "hippity hop music too loud". She qualifies her disdain by asking the sheriff rhetorically if he knows "what they call colored folks in them songs?" moving to quickly exclaim, "Niggaz" [or "Niggers"; sources have printed both spellings].{{cite web |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/09/03/the-ladykillers |title=The Ladykillers: The Coen Brothers Try A Live Action Cartoon |date=September 3, 2004 |first=Andy |last=Patrizio |website=IGN |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107005742/https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/09/03/the-ladykillers |archive-date=January 7, 2023 |access-date=January 7, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/archive/2004/mar/25/southern-discomfort/ |title=Southern Discomfort: Coen Brothers' Latest Is an Eccentric Misstep |date=March 25, 2004 |first=Josh |last=Bell |website=Las Vegas Weekly |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107010020/https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/archive/2004/mar/25/southern-discomfort/ |archive-date=January 7, 2023 |access-date=January 7, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/the-ladykillers-3-1200534417/ |title=The Ladykillers |date=March 18, 2004 |first=Todd |last=McCarthy |website=Variety |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811115347/https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/the-ladykillers-3-1200534417/ |archive-date=August 11, 2016 |access-date=January 7, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2004/03/25/ladykillers-has-its-charms/ |title=Ladykillers Has its Charms |date=March 25, 2004 |first=Steve |last=Persall |website=Tampa Bay Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107010908/https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2004/03/25/ladykillers-has-its-charms/ |archive-date=January 7, 2023 |access-date=January 7, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/ladykillers-2004-dvd-2496256299.html |title=The Ladykillers (2004) |date=September 8, 2004 |first=Cynthia |last=Fuchs |website=Pop Matters |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614065732/https://www.popmatters.com/ladykillers-2004-dvd-2496256299.html |archive-date=June 14, 2018 |access-date=January 7, 2023}}{{cite book |title=Constructing the Coens: From Blood Simple to Inside Llewyn Davis |chapter=Chapter Two: "You Don't Want to be Tried and Found Wantin'": Triggering the Ongoing Adaptation of The Ladykillers |page=17 |author=Allen Redmon |year=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442244856 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MBiMBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 |via=Google Books |access-date=January 7, 2023}}

Some television shows{{which|date=November 2022}} use the word, either to create a realistic atmosphere or as a way of presenting social discussion, specifically ones relating to the wealth gap between the rich and the poor.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bftl_Oau6MC&q=Am+I+black+enough |isbn=9780253211057 |title=Am I Black Enough for You?: Popular Culture from the 'Hood and Beyond |year=1997 |publisher=Indiana University Press}}{{pages needed|date=November 2022}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lllc24exRugC&q=Your+average+nigga&pg=PP1 |title=Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity |isbn=978-0814335765 |last1=Young |first1=Vershawn Ashanti |date=March 2007|publisher=Wayne State University Press }}{{pages needed|date=November 2022}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ksJuX02DNwC&q=Black+wealth&pg=PP1 |title=Black Wealth, White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality |isbn=9780415951678 |last1=Oliver |first1=Melvin L. |last2=Shapiro |first2=Thomas M. |last3=Shapiro |first3=Thomas |year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis }}{{pages needed|date=November 2022}}

Until a 2017 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Matal v. Tam,{{cite web |first=Joe |last=Mullin |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/supreme-court-rules-offensive-trademarks-must-be-allowed/ |title=Supreme Court rules: Offensive trademarks must be allowed |work=Ars Technica |date=19 June 2017 |access-date=19 June 2017 |publisher=Condé Nast}} the Lanham Act did not permit registration of trademarks containing terms that may disparage persons or bring them into disrepute.{{UnitedStatesCode|15|1052}}. Registration by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) of terms that are historically considered disparaging to groups of people has been allowed in some circumstances. Self-disparaging trademarks have been allowed in some cases where the applicant has shown that the mark as-used is not considered by the relevant group to be disparaging.{{cite journal |last=Anten |first=Todd |title=Self-Disparaging Trademarks and Social Change: Factoring the Reappropriation of Slurs into Section 2(A) of the Lanham Act |journal=Columbia Law Review |volume=106 |page=338 |date=1 March 2006 |url=http://www.columbialawreview.org/assets/pdfs/106/2/Anten-Web.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726034928/http://www.columbialawreview.org/assets/pdfs/106/2/Anten-Web.pdf |archive-date=26 July 2011}}

In 1995, two men from Houston filed a trademark application with the PTO for the words "Naturally Intelligent God Gifted Africans", and its acronym. The application was rejected, as were numerous subsequent applications for variations of the word nigga. In 2005, comedian Damon Wayans twice attempted to trademark a brand name called Nigga, "featuring clothing, books, music and general merchandise". The PTO refused Wayans' application, stating "the very fact that debate is ongoing regarding in-[ethnic]-group usage, shows that a substantial composite of African-Americans find the term 'nigga' to be offensive".

• {{annotated link|Reappropriation}}

{{notelist|refs=

{{efn |name=niggaPronounce |Pronunciation between nigger and nigga may be different – for some non-rhotic speakers – when linking r appears. For others, the phrases nigger is and nigga is are homophonous as {{IPA|[nɪɡə (ʔ)ɪz]}} or, in dialects with intrusive r, {{IPA|[nɪɡər ɪz]}} (heard as nigger is by speakers of rhotic accents).}}

}}

{{reflist}}

{{wiktionary|nigga}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100818035852/http://www.theroot.com/views/lets-make-deal-n-word "Let's Make a Deal on the N-Word: White folks will stop using it, and black folks will stop pretending that quoting it is saying it,"] John McWhorter, The Root

{{ethnic slurs}}

Category:African-American culture

Category:American slang

Category:English words

Category:English profanity

Category:Hip-hop phrases

Category:African-American slang

Category:Ethnonyms of African Americans