There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes, and that white people should never ever use the n-word. In fact I can’t believe that it’s 2017 and we’re still having to have this conversation. It’s pretty simple really. But first a quick history lesson.

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The n-word originates from a dark place in history – the 1600s to be precise – a time that saw black people originating from Africa enslaved in America in order to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco and cotton. The original spelling of the n-word – ‘n*****’ – is a variation of the Spanish and Portuguese noun negro, which in itself is a descendent of the Latin adjective niger (meaning the colour ‘black’). It’s a word that was used by caucasian slave owners and their families to dehumanise an entire race of people.

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It was at this point that racism was born, and it became the norm publicly to use the word when referring to people with black skin, reducing them to less than human. So, why the sudden uproar regarding the use of the word? In late September, an Instagram story video was posted showing white female members of the Alpha Phi Sorority at the University of New Hampshire singing and dancing to Kanye West’s popular song, Gold Digger. Repeating the chorus, ‘Now I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger/ But she ain’t messing with no broke n*****’ – the video of the girls caused much controversy and inspired the Facebook page, All Eyes on UNH, to call them out, posting the video online and hash tagging it: #RacistUNH.

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Now take note of the spelling of the n-word used in the song. It’s spelt with an ‘a’ at the end. The word associated with the days of slavery was spelt with an ‘er’. Is there a difference? Yes, especially when regarding the use of it in today’s music, especially music originating from hip hop culture – think rap, R&B and grime. Considered a term of endearment, the ‘a’ version of the word is often used by members of the black community to describe a friend, a homie, a brother. It’s used, without irony, either to neutralise the word’s impact – you’ll often hear people say that the word was taken back to remove the sting of it – or as a sign of solidarity.

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So, do I think that the girls of Alpha Phi Sorority are racist? No, that’s a bit far fetched. To judge them solely on a video where they’re having fun singing and dancing to a popular song isn’t fair. Should they be using the word? Absolutely not- that’s just white privilege at it’s purest form.

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As a fan of hip hop culture and its music, from an early age I’ve certainly had my fair share of conversations about the use of the n-word. It comes down to education. A lot of people today aren’t too concerned with the history of what it is they’re into. Whether it’s sports, fashion, music, movies, food, etc, we now live in a world where everything is so forthcoming and instant so why bother with where it came from.

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Pop culture today is littered with the n-word (the ‘a’ version), but it didn’t start that way. The music that contained the word went from underground to overground to worldwide because of the realness, the pain, the elements of soul all contained within it. The word just came along for the ride because it’s what these artists were being called or it was what they referred to each other as. NWA didn’t start out wanting to flood the world with the n-word, they just wanted what was going on in their neighbourhoods to be talked about and highlighted in the news because they felt like they were forgotten about. They represented an entire race and an entire class – which was colourblind – and it bled through to the world and became a nationally recognised term of endearment amongst the black community.

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Tupac Shakur even created a positive acronym for the word to help take the sting out of it even more and make it empowering. If you listen to his second album, which is titled using the n-word as an acronym, he explains that to him the word stands for Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished.

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Of course there’s always going to be the argument about why white people can’t say the word if it’s sung in a song. The word ending with an ‘a’ is not for them. The word has been a way for black people to take the power back and have something they can call their own. The appropriation of black culture is real. It’s heavily documented the amount of things white people have already ‘stolen’ from black culture in order to make money. So why do we need this too? We don’t.

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But don’t get it twisted, of course there are always going to be white people who respect the culture and its architects. Therefore they are welcomed with open arms because that’s what we should do as human beings. It’s about sharing and exploring our differences. It’s exciting. In fact, as cliché as it sounds, variety is the spice of life. So what do I do when I’m singing along to my favourite songs and that word comes up? I take a deep breath, or replace it with the word ‘brother’. Simple.

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My thing is this though, why would white people even want to say the n-word? It’s highly likely that late ancestors had slaves and used the n-word with a racial connotation attached to it. So, again I ask, why would you want to use it? Because you think it’s cool? It’s not cool. It’s certainly not cool to the millions of black people who died as slaves at the hands of power hungry white owners.

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At the end of the day the use of the n-word by people other than those who are black is forever going to be a topic of discussion. It’s white privilege in its purest form. The majority likes to think it trumps the minority but it doesn’t in this instance. The original word is a reminder of pain and suffering. The newer version of the word is a way for some in the black community to eradicate the painfulness of it. If you weren’t a slave why would you want to use it?