Negus: Black Emperor, King Ruler, Now Let Me Finish
Kendrick Lamar, Courtesy of genius.com
Negus: A title to describe Ethiopian royalty. A title distinguished for African kings. A word that has been perverted to "nigger" and used since the inception of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade by slave owners and racist whites alike to negatively describe and/or qualify African slaves and their descendants. The same word has been subsequently reclaimed by the African-American community as a term of endearment. The reclaimed term, "nigga", is widely used by African-Americans to describe the collective condition of oppression, discrimination, systemic racism, prejudice, and the like experienced by all people of color. This newly reclaimed term has been made famous to the mainstream media as a word commonly used in the music genre, Hip-Hop. While many individuals of influence, both black and white, rally to abolish the term, the African-American community holds fast that it is a word that has been soundly reclaimed and will remain apart of the vernacular of the black community.
For brevity's sake, I will leave you with an excerpt of the definition of the word, why we use it, and why we should be proud of it straight from rapper Kendrick Lamar's song entitled "i".
I promised Dave I'd never use the phrase "fuck nigga"
He said, "Think about what you saying: 'Fuck niggas'
No better than Samuel on Django
No better than a white man with slave boats"
Sound like I needed some soul searching
My Pops gave me some game in real person
Retraced my steps on what they never taught me
Did my homework fast before government caught me
So I'ma dedicate this one verse to Oprah
On how the infamous, sensitive N-word control us
So many artists gave her an explanation to hold us
Well, this is my explanation straight from Ethiopia
N-E-G-U-S definition: royalty; King royalty - wait listen
N-E-G-U-S description: Black emperor, King, ruler, now let me finish
The history books overlook the word and hide it
America tried to make it to a house divided
The homies don't recognize we been using it wrong
So I'ma break it down and put my game in a song
N-E-G-U-S, say it with me
Or say no more. Black stars can come and get me
Take it from Oprah Winfrey, tell her she right on time
Kendrick Lamar, by far, realest Negus alive