Popular for playing hoods such as Avon Barksdale on The Wire and Ace in Paid In Full, Wood Harris sat down with Vlad TV to talk about many topics. Among those, the actor mentioned that he believed the younger rap generation isn't as preoccupied with the N-word as their forebears were.
"The younger generation, they don't give a shit about that," Harris said. "You think Lil Yachty care is somebody say the N-word? You think these young cats care about that? They don't. Not all of them are that way it's just that it's been seduced into the culture that way."
The actor admitted to feeling conflicted about the "weight" the word has had on his life. He said the word should no longer have the detrimental power that it holds.
"You hear all different cultures say the N-word to each other. Hip hop people use it. White people use it. It's a word that means so many different things and none of that is necessarily all that good. You could have an endearing way to use it. it's a word man. I'm just sick of the weight of it," he told Vlad.
Still, though he likes the music of Kendrick Lamar, he thinks the African American community as a whole is suffering from a dearth of leaders at the moment to challenge the word's negative influence on society.
Check out the interview below.