I really liked the opening song by a popular rapper 50 CENT. The n word is thrown around quite often in the chorus alone which makes a strong opening for this particular piece. I feel that Kristal Graham could have spent a bit more time in the beginning of the piece to expose a lot more definitions and arguments behind the word. Graham states some of the general and common views of what this word means to some people and society. I enjoyed the interview segment of this piece. It was very real and speakers seemed to be quite genuine in their answers. One thing that through me off a bit was when a speaker clarified that politicians were not trying to ban the word, and they actually can't ban a word, they were simply making a symbolic resolution against the word. That made me wonder why the piece was titled, Banning the "N" word, if that isn't even possible. The closing music also through me off because it was more of a focus on violence and the n word is actually censored out of the song. It seemed more like the song choice was for personal preference rather than supporting the piece appropriately. Overall this piece was very interesting and did expose a major issue in society.
Review of Banning the "N" word
Kaila Strickland
Posted on May 31, 2008 at 07:14 AM
I really liked the opening song by a popular rapper 50 CENT. The n word is thrown around quite often in the chorus alone which makes a strong opening for this particular piece. I feel that Kristal Graham could have spent a bit more time in the beginning of the piece to expose a lot more definitions and arguments behind the word. Graham states some of the general and common views of what this word means to some people and society. I enjoyed the interview segment of this piece. It was very real and speakers seemed to be quite genuine in their answers. One thing that through me off a bit was when a speaker clarified that politicians were not trying to ban the word, and they actually can't ban a word, they were simply making a symbolic resolution against the word. That made me wonder why the piece was titled, Banning the "N" word, if that isn't even possible. The closing music also through me off because it was more of a focus on violence and the n word is actually censored out of the song. It seemed more like the song choice was for personal preference rather than supporting the piece appropriately. Overall this piece was very interesting and did expose a major issue in society.