“That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”
So would a nigg-a
Only be a nigg-er if he was
actin’ ignorantly?
A word that has
been burned
hung and spit
Then
remixed
and Added to a
Jay-Z hit
If we drop the –er and substitute an –a
Does it then make it ok?
For the lynchings,
The beatings,
The experiment Tuske-gee
Denial of chair seating
For those 4 dead girls in that
church bomb-ing
The false imprison-ing
The nameless bodies
that died fight-ing
For our rights
Our rights
to call another Nigga?
Is that right?
We call our “down” white friends “Whiggas”
Other minority groups have embedded
the word “Nigga”
in their everyday slang
But let some white person
even sound out the N-
We ready to pull the trigger
even quicker than they can get out
-igger
A walking contradiction
It seems
That I can’t even cross the street
Without hearing gree-tings
of “Wassup? my nigga”
Proceeded by…
“Nigga dis and Nigga dat”
If the King with that dream
was alive today
Would he begin
each speech
with “Where my niggas at?”
Are we spinning a negative
into a positive
Or are we just lyin’
to ourselves
The new blackface
of our race
But with our
black face
attached
“ Yes massa, I’s a nigga
I can’t read or write
But I flip rocks
Been to prison 2 times
and been shot”
This word is the mentality
and the mentality is the word
"Nigger"
Caught a little fame
Went all Hollywood
And Got a name change
But if you decorate shit
with frills and lace
Guess what?
It will
still
be
shit
only with a new face


Author's Note: *Im sure many know but just in case you didnt the first line is from Shakespeare "Romeo and Juliet"*
The quote means What matters is what something is, not what it is called, that is what is meant in the context of the play. Keep that in mind when you are reading, it will make more sense.