Kanye West Defends Using 'B Word' in Music, Sparks Debate
Kanye West, 35-year-old rapper and music executive, has defended his use of profanity, namely one word that some felt was derogatory toward women.
West, who recently named a song "Perfect B----" after his reality television star girlfriend Kim Kardashian, took to his Twitter account to defend his use of the word on Sunday. The rapper began his Twitter discussion with a question.
"I usually never tweet questions but I struggle with this so here goes... Is the word B---- acceptable," West questioned to over eight million followers. "To be more specific, is it acceptable for a man to call a woman a bitch even if it's endearing? Even typing it in question form it's still feels harsh?"
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The rapper also questioned if hip-hop music had any impact on people's use of the word.
"Has hip-hop conditioned us to accept this word? Do we love this word as much as we love the word N---- in an endearing way," West questioned. "Correction, Here's the age old question, would we refer to our mothers as b-----? Would' we call our fathers niggers or better yet N----?"
West offered a possible theory to answer his questions while posing another, labeling the comment "#freethought."
"Perhaps the words B---- and N---- are now neither positive or negative," The rapper said. "They are just potent and it depends on how the are used and by whom?"
While West posed several questions about the topic to his Twitter followers, he also explained why he felt the need to comment about the use of profanity.
"I was recently questioned about the use of the word B---- in my music and initially was offended by anyone questioning anything in my music. Stevie Wonder never had to use the word bitch to get his point across." West tweeted. "I will admit that I sometimes go back an omit cursing from my records. I like to use profanity as a tool and not a crutch."
West ended his comments by saying that he was just sharing his thoughts, and closed the discussion with the hashtag "#THEWORDB----"
"I'm not tweeting to say what we need and what we don't," West tweeted."I just wanted to think out loud with you guys today..."
