With his G.O.O.D Music compilation keeping Kanye firmly in the limelight, West decided that it was time to take a deeper look at his use of the words “Nigga” and “Bitch”, which have featured in a number of his recent song titles, and drawn criticism from many who feel it to be an overly overt use of the terms.
Kanye took the opportunity to not only answer the question directly via Twitter, but also take a more philosophical look at the role of censorship and the power that is given to words perceived to be offensive.
Publicly speaking on the matter, Yeezy said:
“I usually never tweet questions but I struggle with this so here goes… Is the word B*TCH acceptable? To be more specific, is it acceptable for a man to call a woman a bitch even if it’s endearing?”
Kanye went on with further questions, not necessarily being directed at his fans, but more likely at himself.
“Has hip hop conditioned us to accept this word? Do we love this word as much as we love the word N*GGA in an endearing way?”
“What if there was no profanity… What if we decided to legalise profanity in a sense? In France they play songs with cursing on the radio. ‘Excuse my French but I’m in France’
“I was recently questioned about the use of the word B*TCH in my music and initially was offended by anyone questioning anything in my music. I will admit that I sometimes go back and omit cursing from my records. I like to use profanity as a tool and not a crutch. ”
Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer compilation is to be released on September 18.
