AKA debates the k-word on Sway In The Morning

When rapper AKA made his much-anticipated appearance on popular US hip-hop show Sway In The Morning on Wednesday, the last thing he probably expected was to defend his use of the term n**ger in his music.

AKA is a man not short on opinions and so when he was asked by host Sway Calloway what the word n**ger means in South Africa, AKA explained that many South Africans learnt the term from rap music and that the term does not hold the same weight in South Africa as it would in America.

"It has no legacy, it has no offence to it. So, we can't really relate to it," he said of the words use in South Africa.

When it was noted that there was a similar word used back home, the rapper seemed to shrug it off saying: "We have a different past and a different situation."

But the debate didn't die there. It soon continued when a caller to the show voiced disapproval of AKA’s use of the word n**ger in his lyrics.

“I just have a problem with him (AKA) using the word n**ger in order to sell his music and not the word K (k-word), which means the same thing in his country,” the caller said.

AKA immediately responded by saying that the words do not mean the same thing.

“It doesn’t mean the same thing. Not at all. You must understand that I am coming from a different place and I can only give you my perspective of where I’m from. If that is how you feel, that is how you feel. But I’m coming from my perspective, as AKA, and that’s all I can do. I’m not here to sell music. I don’t give a sh*t about selling music with the word n**ger,” he responded.

A second caller, a Capetonian based in Colorado, agreed with AKA and complimented him on the way he had handled the caller.

When questioned about the term by Sway, AKA further explained that the word was more charged than the term n**ger.

“For me, it is way more charged… we obviously have different perspectives but let’s not get it twisted, I am African first and foremost, that’s what my passport says. So, I have my own understanding of prejudice and a system of oppression, the original system of oppression. I’m not trying to say that the struggle in the States is any less or any more, I’m just saying that this is my perspective,” he explained.

AKA says that in order to understand the term clearly, you have to first understand the country's history of Apartheid.

"It might have to do with the shade of my skin… but we have to give you the history of what coloured people are and what we’ve gone through. We are also an oppressed people… In South Africa, yes it was about race but it was about your shade,” he said.