Nigga is a colloquial term used in Black English Vernacular that began as an eye dialect form
of the word nigger.
Usage In practice, its use and meaning are heavily
dependent on context.
Presently, the word nigga is used more liberally among younger members of all races and ethnicities
in the United States.
In addition to African Americans, other ethnic groups have adopted the term as part of their
vernacular.
There is conflicting popular opinion on whether there is any meaningful difference between
nigga and nigger as a spoken term.
Many people consider the terms to be equally pejorative, and the use of nigga both in and
outside African American communities remains controversial.
H. Lewis Smith, author of Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Affair with the N-word, believes
that "replacing the 'er' with an 'a' changes nothing other than the pronunciation" and
the African American Registry notes, "Brother and Sister are terms of endearment.
Nigger was and still is a word of disrespect."
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights group, condemns
use of both nigga and nigger.
Some African-Americans only consider nigga offensive when used by Americans of other
races, its use outside a defined social group being an unwelcome cultural appropriation.
Used by blacks, the term may indicate "solidarity or affection", similar to the usage of the
words dude, homeboy, and bro.
Others consider "nigga" non-offensive except when directed from a non-African-American
towards an African-American.
Yet others have derided this as hypocritical and harmful, enabling white racists to use
the word and confusing the issue over nigger.
Non-rhotic English-speakers, such as speakers of many British dialects and African American
Vernacular English, pronounce "nigger" and "nigga" identically, as their accents do not
distinguish between these two words.
Cultural influence The term "nigga, please", first used in the
1970s by comics such as Paul Mooney as "a funny punctuation in jokes about Blacks,"
is now heard routinely in comedy routines by African Americans.
The growing use of the term is often attributed to its ubiquity in modern American hip hop
music.
Examples include Niggaz Wit' Attitude, A Tribe Called Quest's "Sucka Nigga"; Notorious B.I.G.'s
song, "The Realest Niggaz"; Jay-Z's Jigga That Nigga, Nigga What, Nigga Who and Niggas
in Paris; Dj Khaled's I Wish You Would; and Snoop Dogg's For All My Niggaz And Bitches.
One of the earliest uses of the term was in the 1983 song New York, New York by Grandmaster
Flash and the Furious Five.
Ol' Dirty Bastard uses the term 76 times in his Nigga Please album.
This is reflected in the term's wide use in modern American gang culture.
According to a Texas Monthly article about Houston gangs, many Hispanic street gang members
call each other niggah.
Comedian Chris Rock's routine "Niggas vs. Black People" distinguishes a nigga, which
he defined as a "low-expectation-having motherfucker", from a "black person".
In contrast, Tupac Shakur distinguished between nigger and nigga: "Niggers was the ones on
the rope, hanging off the thing; niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs."
Tupac, who has been credited with legitimizing the term, said his song N.I.G.G.A.
stood for "Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished."
Use in trademarks or brand names The Lanham Act does not permit registration
of trademarks containing terms that may disparage persons or bring them into disrepute.
Registration by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of terms that are historically considered
disparaging to groups of people has been allowed in some circumstances.
Self-disparaging trademarks have been allowed in some cases where the applicant has shown
that the mark as-used is not considered by the relevant group to be disparaging.
In 1995, two Houston, Texas men filed a trademark application with the PTO for the words "Naturally
Intelligent God Gifted Africans," and its acronym.
The application was rejected, as were numerous subsequent applications for variations of
the word nigga.
Most recently, comedian Damon Wayans twice attempted to trademark a brand name called
Nigga, "featuring clothing, books, music and general merchandise."
The PTO refused the application, stating "the very fact that debate is ongoing regarding
in-[ethnic]-group usage, shows that a substantial composite of African Americans find the term
'nigga' to be offensive."
See also
Guilty or Innocent of Using the N Word Reappropriation
Murzyn References
External links "Let's Make a Deal on the N-Word: White folks
will stop using it, and black folks will stop pretending that quoting it is saying it,"
John McWhorter, The Root