This shit is old. But....You called common conscious. he didn't. The negativity/positivity of the word nigga is in the ear of the reciever. I don't find it a negative word in a lot of instances, neither does kweli, common, mos, or blackthought. You do. so what? They supposed to stop saying it? Are they any less 'conscious'?
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RAP IS SOMETHING YOU DO. HIP-HOP IS SOMETHING YOU LIVE.

"The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken, it's all contractual and about money makin'" - Black Thought.

"Ay yo Pharoah! Why don't you explain: How did Hip-Hop get caught up in this ill rap game?" - Prince Poetry

"I'm the assassinator of Rap" - Pharoah Monche.

"Rap is business music, Hip-Hop is cultural music" - Busta Rhymes

"...Even up the ratio of Hip-Hop to that shit they playin on the radio." - Talib Kweli

"Let's say I use my gift of gab to boast and brag in every rhyme I
compose. won't y'all get sick of that, cause I know I do when I hear those flows. That ain't hip-hop, you find that shit in the gift shop. But to each his own, my speech is gon', keep that shit up outta my zone." Andre 3000