John Mellencamp believes rappers should stop using the “N-word” in their songs, claiming it is a slap in the face to the freedom fighters who laid their lives down for Black people to enjoy their constitutionally granted civil rights. In a recent interview on the Bill Maher “Club Random” podcast, he said he’s been calling for it since the early 2000s.
“Me and Chuck D did a song 20 years ago,” he said. “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.
“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.’”
John Mellencamp and Maher continued to go back and forth regarding racism and whether the conditions of Blacks in the nation had gotten any better.
While Maher insisted that things have gotten better, Mellencamp said he believes it hasn’t and that his son, who has a Black friend who was beaten down because of his race, is only one example of how unfair life still hard for people of color.