John Mellencamp says Black rappers shouldn’t use the N-word: “I don’t like it”
Heartland rocker John Mellencamp has said that all rappers, even Black artists, should refrain from using the N-word.
The ‘Hurts So Good’ singer discussed the topic on a new episode of Bill Maher’s podcast, Club Random. He reflected on his 2001 collaboration with Public Enemy leader Chuck D ‘Cuttin’ Heads’ and some of the song’s controversial lyrics, which included the N-word.
Mellencamp said: “Me and Chuck D did a song 20 years ago. We were talking about the N-word. We were talking about how it’s not supposed to be used… That’s what I have against – not against, but why I’m not a big fan of rap music. You guys are selling out what the people stood up for and fought for, and you’re making money off of it selling it to white kids? I don’t like it.”
He continued: “And so Chuck D and I did a song… I wrote the song and, then he rapped in the middle of it, and he just said ‘die, N-word, die.’ That’s right.”
Mellencamp and Maher then debated whether life for Black citizens had improved in the US over the past few decades. Mellencamp said: “I wrote a song that I never recorded because I thought it was wrong. But it was called ‘From the Fucking Cotton Fields to the Playing Fields.’ My point is that, yes, so what [if Black people’s lives are better now]? Us white people love to have Black people entertain us.”
He concluded: “There is one per cent or two per cent of Black people in America who have a better life.” The musician proceeded to discuss a friend of his son’s who was Black and killed in Los Angeles.
Watch Mellencamp on Club Random below.
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