You may be right in more ways than you realize.

Suppose that Common is aware of the fact that Arab people take offense to the pronouciation "Ay-Rab". He may be using it in a way that illicits an emotional response abd awareness similarly to the way that Michael Jackson used the word "Kyke" (please pardon the irony of the comparison), with the intention of bringing to light the fact that people use such terms pejoratively.

Another possibility is that he's using it in a familial way. Much the way that Fat Joe uses the N word. There was so much hub-bub about Jennifer Hopez (no that's not a type-o) saying N*GGA because she's not back, but nobody mentions it when Fat Joe, Big PUN, JuJu or any other hispanic rap artist uses the term in a familial sense. The difference here would be that he would likely call himself an "Ay-Rab" but that he would feel a common bond with all oppressed people such that using the word in a non-derogetory way would acceptable among others of the oppressed. This is pretty common (in Chicago at least) in Mexican communities like Little Village and Pilsen (where I used to live), where young Mexican men will call other people Niggaz but never refer to themselves as such.

Another possibility is that He is just using the pronouciation that will stick in peoples minds. We hope it's not as trite as that but can't be sure. Common does have a history of being (or at least seeming to be) insensitive to issues about whole classes of people (Homosexuality, Interracial dating, etc...)


For the record I do agree that Ay-Rab is offensive, though many people don't realize it. Just as many don't realize that "Colored" is offensive.

JM2Cs

>If we say what we want about white folks in a song, and care
>very little about offending them, which is usually meant to be
>offensive or to display hostility. What makes you think Arabs
>have the right to say so, well you have the right... but who
>cares. This is like an external "nigga debate". Tell a black
>person nigga is offensive, they would probably say fuck you.
>
>******************************
>http://profiles.myspace.com/users/1281849
>******************************
>"me as a black man will not
> stand here and allow you to
> talk dumb shit about white
> women that simply is not true"
>SouthPhillyMan
>
>"If I see


"I learned thirty years ago that it is foolish to scold. I have enough
trouble overcoming my own limitations without fretting over the fact that
God has not seen fit to distribute evenly the gift of intelligence." -- J. Wanamaker