The N-word is less controversial in Hip Hop than it is in all other spheres of American life.

However, there is still some debate and unease over its usage in rap, especially from the genre's more conscious emcees.

One would consider Kendrick Lamar in the conscious camp. But he's not ready to give up "nigga" anytime soon.

"The closest I can do to stopping is putting the root word, negus, on my album," K.Dot told NME. "But I don’t know if I’m there mentally to stop saying the N-word yet. I dunno, maybe one day. That’s 27 years of reversing that word, I probably been saying that since I was one-year-old."