Is the word “bitch” acceptable?

This is the current question circulating the hip-hop world.

Hip-hop has admirably reflected a history of reclaiming words and transforming their overtones from demeaning and injurious to empowering and affectionate.

Some women have even embraced the term “bitch,” both in hip-hop and in their personal lives, asserting themselves as “bad bitches” or powerful, aggressive women.

Lupe Fiasco, who is bound to retire after a feud with Chief Keef, suggests a different approach. Instead of flipping the script, he’d prefer to botch the script entirely to avoid further negative perpetrations. His song “Bitch Bad” disdains the use of the word “bitch” in any context.

Many other progressive rappers agree and do not use the word “bitch” to describe women or men.

Kanye West, who does employ the word “bitch” in his music, was reflective in response to Fiasco’s song.

“Has hip-hop conditioned us to accept this word?” he tweeted. “Do we love this word as much as we love the word NIGGA in an endearing way?”

Fiasco doesn’t love the word but uses other words employed in both positive and negative contexts, even in his response to a spiteful Chief Keef: “Cant go 4 that & I cant let the people I love, including you my nigga, go 4 that either.”

“Nigga” and “bitch” are similar in that they can illustrate both high regard and tremendous disrespect. Why is “bitch” unacceptable to Lupe, but not “nigga?” Is “nigga” different because of its complicated history of shifting use?

West picks up on this conflict: “If nigga is such a positive word, why do we feel uncomfortable for white people to say it, even with a hall pass?”

He suggests that maybe the words have abandoned all positive or negative implications and are instead just potent and dependent on context and speaker.

He has also said he prefers to “use profanity as a tool and not a crutch.”
Can profane words be useful with the right context and speaker?

Ultimately, words created for the purposes of perpetrating hatred will carry that ghost with them for as long as they are used, even if their purpose is reformed. “Bitch” as a vulgarity has existed since the 14th century.

How long does it take for a powerful word’s origins to dissipate? Will it ever not sting?

After his feud with Chief Keef, to whom Fiasco represents the “scary,” street-centric culture within the hip-hop world, Fiasco is choosing to use his words in
another medium.

“My first true love was literature so i will return to that...lupe fiasco ends here...,” Fiasco said on Twitter.

Fiasco will soon find that words are no kinder in any medium.

If Fiasco wants to kill the ghosts, he won’t do so by bowing out because of a broken heart. He has to stay in the game if he wants to change it.