...intellectual or moral or uplifting. Rappers are mindful of the words they use unless they are freestyling (off the top). Rappers are deliberate with the words they use, including the word nigga. The n word is part of a past steeped in white supremacy and many people have not come to terms with this.

Rappers are no different than you or I. Common is just that- common or like everyone else. Common is a brother who is trying to work it out in his music, his rhymes. Working it out includes dealing with the power of the word and dealing with conditioning that allows us to use words like nigga without thinking about what we are really calling other people and ourselves.

Ever notice how Rakim could drop some serious, perhaps "conscious" rhymes without using profanity or the "n" word?

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"It amuses me when people read into instead of understand what I write or say or assume who I am. People will look at me and think it's cute that I say I am an artist until they ask me what schools I went to and discover I am serious...I am serious about everything I do and say and write including my posts, generalizations, ironies and all. That is integrity. Everything is real, sincere including my name on these boards."
--Me

"Know thyself"

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you". So we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
-- Hebrews 13:5,6

"There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path"
--Morpheus in "The Matrix"

"It's our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"- Dumbledore to Harry Potter "Chamber of Secrets"