Sensitive topic. The N-Word. If you’re triggered, stop reading and listen to your favorite playlist instead. Here we go, Azealia Banks has once again stepped into controversial territory, this time weighing in on the ongoing chat surrounding who should and should not use the N-word. That part.
Her take? Black people need to lead by example and stop using the word themselves if they expect others to do the same.
Now you all know she is opinionated. But this may be a conversation we all need to have.
The convo took off after rising rapper Anycia posted a straightforward message that resonated with many on social media. “If u not Black. stop saying ni**a. period. idk why that’s so hard??? idc who u grew up with. if u NOT Black expand ur vocabulary.”
Rather than co-signing the sentiment, Banks pushed back. In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, June 21, the Harlem artist voiced a different opinion.
“No. Everyone in the world can say and do what they want and Black people really have no reason to be upset about it as offensive while we run around calling each other such an ugly word because we can’t expand our vocabulary,” she wrote. “If we want people to let it go, we have to do so first. African people do not use that word.”
The line of thinking in black and white, no pun intended, set off a wave of backlash on the platform, with many calling Banks out for what they saw as hypocrisy and misplaced critique. One user responded, “You the same person that be dragging celebrities for their Blackness though.” Another added, “Azealia Banks is the type to gatekeep Blackness when it’s trending, then fold the second a white rapper bats their lashes. This ain’t about free speech…it’s about her craving relevance more than she respects her own people. Loud, wrong, and consistently embarrassing.”
Some replies went left and took an even sharper tone. One user wrote, “And this tweet is why I will always double down that EVERY white person at that party should have spat on you! Why tf do [we] have to not use ‘nia’, a part of our cultural dialect, to appease other cultures and races because it’s not ‘inclusive’. Our vocabulary as culture is EXPANSIVE and it includes the word nia. It’s always dumb aes like you who want to appease the same muthaf*as that spat on you.”
Get this, another person reminded her of past performances. “How do you sleep at night?” they asked, referencing white fans at her shows who were allegedly heard using the word without any response from her.
What ya’ll think, does Banks have a point, or is this just a futile conversation, and people are going to say what they want, N word notwithstanding? Let us know.