CINCINNATI (TDB) -- RapSpace.TV is a social networking site that is offering a $1,000 prize for the best rhyme containing the N-word, which seems a desperate and provocative way to seek attention on the Internet. RapSpace lets rappers upload performances so they can be viewed online and around the world. The goal, apparently, is to defuse the N-Bomb as an offensive term.
"While we think the proposed ban on the N-word by Reverend Jesse Jackson and others is understandable, it's one-sided. Our contest is a platform for rappers to provide their own take on a word so commonplace in their works. As Michael Richards showed, the repetitious use of the N-word in rap has done little to reduce its sting. Arguably, it's made it easier for everyone to say it -- apparently even for Paris Hilton. The N-Bomb contest acknowledges hip hop's role in the social evolution of the word and leaves it up to the emcee community to figure out how it should be treated."
That's from McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves, RapSpace founder and a former Canadian TV figure. A link to the Web site is HERE.
If I was entering, and I'm not, I would be tempted to borrow and slightly rewrite some verse from a talented and brilliant artist who dreamed of the brotherhood of man:
Imagine there's no N-word
It's easy if you try . . .
Imagine there's no N-word
It isn't hard to do . . .
Imagine no N-word
I wonder if you can . . .
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will be as one.
Of course, the world doesn't live as one, which is a good reason to start thinking about banishing the N-word forever. For a little history about John Lennon's song, click HERE.
Nice touch on this one, Bill.
ReplyDeleteI liked it. Rhyming with the n-word is a completely useless idea.
RH