Yesterday it was pointed out that struggle rapper and son of Tom Hanks Chet Haze had been using the N-word in some of his social media posts. While there was no way to explain away his casual use of the word, his reasoning for doing so has only made things worse.
Choosing to address the controversy in an Instagram video (which, let's be real, never goes well), Chet explained that his use of the word is "an unspoken thing between people who are friends and understand each other". Just before that, he argues that he would never go up to someone he doesn't know and say "sup my n--ga," ironically using the word in front of anyone who chooses to watch, and today, it's not just his friends.
Haze posted another clip defending his actions yesterday, arguing that "hip-hop isn't about race, it's about the culture you identify with," before adding, "can't no one tell me what I can't say".
The rapper shared a more lengthy text response as the caption to the aforementioned video. Read it below.
If I say the word nigga I say it amongst people I love and who love me. If I say "fuck yall hatin ass niggaz" it's because that's really how I felt at the time. And I don't accept society getting to decide what ANYBODY can or can't say. That's something we call FREE SPEECH. Now I understand the older generation who grew up in the Jim Crowe era might have strong feelings against this. And that's understandable... But what I'm saying is this is 2015... And even tho we are still far from where we need to be and black people are still being literally KILLED by a RACIST and fucked up system... We have also reached a point where the word can no longer have a negative connotation if we so choose. And who is to say only black people can use it? The way I see it, it's a word that unifies the culture of HIP-HOP across ALL RACES, which is actually kind of a beautiful thing. It's a word that can be used out of camaraderie and love, not just exclusively for black people. What's the point in putting all these built up "rules" about it. It's time to let go. You can hate me or love me for it, but can't nobody tell me what I can or can't say. It's got nothing to do with trying to be a thug. It's about the culture of the music. And that's all I have to say about that (no pun intended) lol. It's all love. Some people will get it, some people won't. Either way, Ima keep living my life however the fuck I want. ALL LOVE.
What do you make of all this? Check out the Instagram videos below.