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The Student Voice of UNC Asheville

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Rapper Kanye West re-evaluates touchy word

by Amarra Ghani – Campus Voice Editor – [email protected]
There are those who utilize Twitter to get through revolutions and Internet bans in third world countries, and then there are those who utilize Twitter to play the modern day Plato.
On Sept. 2, Kanye West, infamously known for always speaking his mind, pondered one controversial term unfortunately associated with today’s rap music – bitch.
In an open Twitter discussion, West asked his 8 million  followers to help him explore the degrading word usually used to describe women.
West reflected on a term that created the hype of rap music for quite some time in the following tweets:
“I usually never tweet questions but I struggle with this so here goes…is the word bitch acceptable?”
One would think the obvious answer is no, hell no, but he went on to question:
“Is it acceptable for a man to call a woman a bitch even if it’s endearing?”
Usually skeptical of anyone who does not agree with West’s ideas, he continued his Twitter revelation:
“Is it okay to use bitch as long as you put BAD in front of it? Like you a BAD bitch. I will admit that I sometimes go back and omit cursing from my records. I like to use profanity as a tool not a crutch.”
Since West denounced the word bitch, many of his minions have decided the word may actually have a negative connotation to it – shocker.
There was no sigh of relief from women across the world. While West may believe women should applaud his new discovery, here is food for thought: someone who is not a woman should not have the ability to create a right or wrong sense of the word bitch.
A man’s judgment of feminine products best used during a female’s menstrual cycle would be ridiculous to ask, so why would a man have the liberty to define the word bitch and its connotations be any different? A man cannot create the atmosphere that surrounds the word when it is associated with a “her” not “him.”
Calling yourself a “bad bitch” for empowerment may be permissible with you and your girlfriends, but once you let it off the leash you cannot have double standards as to who is allowed to use it. The same goes for historically derogatory words, such as the n-word.
West also tweeted:
“Do we love this word (bitch) as we love the word NI**GA in an endearing way? Correction, here’s the age old question, would we refer to our mothers as bitches. Would we call out fathers ni**ers or better yet ni**AS? If ni**a is such a positive word, why do we feel so uncomfortable for white people to say it, even with a hall pass? ….perhaps the word BITCH and NI**GA are now either positive or negative. They are just potent and it depends on how (they) are used and by whom? #FREETHOUGHT”
Although West’s point may have a sliver of validity, it still does not justify his past lyric endeavors.
Have women lost their sense of respect and have we just accepted that the word just does not have the same meaning anymore? Why is it when a man we do not know calls us a bitch it is harmful? At the end, there is no differentiation.
If you say a word that only benefits you in one certain context and it fails to match in another context, then the word and meaning is faulty. A word should be universal; it can not just be used at your leisure.
West continued his twit-a-thon:
“What if there is no profanity…what If we decided to legalize profanity in a sense? In France they play songs with cursing on the radio. I was recently questioned about the use of the word BITCH in my music and initially was offended by anyone questioning anything in my music,” he wrote.
“Steve Wonder never had to use the word to get his point across. I’m not tweeting to say what we need and what we don’t….I just want to think about loud with you guys today…#THEWORDBITCH”
West had not come to a sincere conclusion, probably because his new album “Mercy” has many  other words he should probably ponder before spurting out in his music.
If West claims he does not use profanity as a clutch, then why do his lyrics start and finish with so many misogynistic words and phrases?
West does not care what others have to say about his work, but through his 20 tweet dissertation, he revealed something even the egotistical rapper thought he needed to hear.

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