Why Do (Some) White People Want to Say the N-Word?

Artist Lil Dicky, who’s birth name is David Burd, recently released a song collaborating with Chris Brown, titled “Freaky Friday”. The lyrics tell a storyline and the concept of the song is that Chris Brown, a man of colour, and David Burd, a white man, swap bodies and live each other’s lives for a short while, a parody of the film ‘Freaky Friday’. In the song, there is an entire section dedicated to how now that Burd is in Chris Brown’s body, he’s “allowed” to say the n word (as he is now black). The lyrics to this section, according to the publishers of the song and various other lyrics-analysing sources read:

In this section of the song, Burd, the white man, revels in the opportunity to say the n word – as if he’s always wanted to and has finally been granted the chance. I feel this is a wider reflection of the attitude many people hold, some secretly and silently, some ignoring the barrier preventing them from saying the word. The verse, however, does give the impression that Burd knows saying the N- word as a white man is wrong and that he shouldn’t, which is a touch of a good message within the overall text that I am sceptical of.

I find it interesting, relevant and thought-provoking how this is a simple verse of a song – it wasn’t necessarily created to start a race conversation or evoke any strong contemplation around the topic of racial slurs and their acceptance in society, it was essentially produced to sell copies of the single, top the charts, and most of all, make money. However as someone who likes to properly read into the lyrics of songs to follow a storyline or listen to clever wordplay, I can’t help but think deeper into this, and as I find  racism and  discrimination horrendously awful but thought-provoking, this verse intrigues me and invites further analysation. 

The passage entails the implied description of how certain people from a white or any non-black background has the desire to be able to say the N-word, for numerous different reasons. I as a Caucasian female have personally experienced other young people of Caucasian descent explaining how they “don’t see why” they are not permitted to sing or rap the N word when it’s in a song. “The artist wrote it”, “I don’t mean it in a racist way” or “my black friends let me say it”…  I have heard countless fatuous excuses to justify countless occurrences where I’ve heard the word being said in a setting where it simply should not. When trying to explain the simplicity of “If you’re not black, don’t use the word. Ever”, it simply does not get through to certain people. Therefore rather than just explaining that you can’t, I’m going to research the context, history and connotations surrounding the word, so I have a better backed up argument for the school friends that just insist they should be able to say it – they’re “not doing anything wrong”. 

A summary that I think encapsulates the principle surrounding the word is a quote from H.W. Fowler in his book “A Dictionary of Modern English Usage” which explores linguistics, the quote explaining that the usage of the word by/to “others than full or partial negroes" is “felt as an insult by the person described, & betrays in the speaker, if not deliberate insolence, at least a very arrogant inhumanity" and further reads that the N word “has been described as 'the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites have inflicted on blacks.”. This is the factor in the words historical context that revokes feelings of anger and pain, due to the exceedingly violent past of slavery and discrimination that is continued into modern context through daily incidences of prejudice.

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