I suppose that we’ve approached the point where we can’t avoid the current news story that is Chet Haze, a.k.a Chester Hanks, the son of actor Tom Hanks…if you’ve missed it (which is unlikely, we know), he’s been making the news because he feels he has the right to say the word ‘nigga’ despite his color — because of free speech and Hip-Hop and other things of that nature:
“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”
Without injecting my I’m-sure-you-can-guess-how-I-feel opinion on the matter, there’s one thing no one is talking about: this guy wants to have a career in Hip-Hop. How in the hell is that going to happen now? What stage does Chet Haze think he’s going to touch in name-that-major-city that won’t end in some overzealous “niggas” beating the brakes off his ass? How the hell does he think this is going to end?
Obviously, much of the youth don’t really have any strong feelings about the word anymore (we’ve seen this with a lot of artists from the West Coast in particular, such as Tyler, The Creator, Mistah FAB and the infamous White Girl Mob), which, well…is what it is. But if Chet Haze thinks that he’s going to be poppin’ off musically anywhere outside of his mansion studio in Calabasas (just assuming here), I’m afraid that he has totally miscalculated his gameplan.
– Jon
