Niggas vs. Black People

"Niggas vs. Black People" is one of Chris Rock's most famous stand-up comedy routines. This routine—which appeared both on his 1996 HBO special Bring the Pain and as track 12 on his 1997 album Roll with the New—is widely considered to be the breakthrough routine that established his status as a comedy fixture after he left Saturday Night Live.

Chris Rock in 1995

The routine is a twelve-minute monologue about behaviors that Rock sees in a subset of the African-American community. He describes "niggas" as a cohort whose behavior is usually detrimental to the image of other black people. "Niggas", he says, glorify ignorance and sloth, and brag about fulfilling any minor responsibility. Rock rejects the view that this image of blacks is purely cultivated by the media and stereotypes, at one point saying: "When I go to the money machine tonight, alright, I ain't looking over my back for the media, I'm looking for niggas! Shit, Ted Koppel ain't never took shit from me. Niggas have, so, you think I've got three guns in my house 'cause the media outside?"

Inspiration

In a 2007 interview, Rock explained that the inspiration for the bit came from the song "Us" from the 1991 Ice Cube album Death Certificate.[1]

Retirement

The controversy caused by Rock's constant use of the word "nigger" led him to remove the rant from his show. In a 2005 60 Minutes interview, Rock said: "By the way, I've never done that joke again, ever, and I probably never will. 'Cos some people that were racist thought they had license to say n-----, so, I'm done with that routine."[2]

Cultural impact

Barack Obama directly referred to the routine while campaigning to be elected president during a Father's Day speech on June 15, 2008, saying: "Chris Rock had a routine. He said some—too many of our men, they're proud, they brag about doing things they're supposed to do. They say 'Well, I—I'm not in jail.' Well, you're not supposed to be in jail!"[3][4]

In the second episode of the first season of NBC's The Office, "Diversity Day", the main character Michael Scott performs a version of this skit, which results in a day-long racial sensitivity seminar for the office staff.[5]

See also

References
  1. Gavin Edwards. "Smart Mouth". Rolling Stone, Star Date (876, 20478). Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  2. Leung, Rebecca (February 17, 2005). "Rock: Bring On Oscar 'Safety Net'". CBS News. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  3. Baumann, Nick (June 16, 2008). "Obama Channels Chris Rock". Mother Jones. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  4. Dyson, Michael Eric (June 19, 2008). "Obama's Rebuke of Absentee Black Fathers". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  5. Daniels, Greg (Producer). 2005. "Diversity Day" [Commentary track], The Office Season One (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal.
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