The Game On Cultural Appropriation: “Don’t Use A Black Emoji”

Larry Wilmore brought Cipha Sounds, Robin Thede, and The Game onto The Nightly Show yesterday to discuss cultural appropriation. The Game mostly took a laissez-faire approach when it came to hot-button appropriation issues. “Personally, I think it’s really ignorant when someone gets mad because someone cornrowed their hair,” he noted. “They saw a hairstyle, they liked it, who cares?” Later he added, “I say just do you.”

When Wilmore wondered how the rapper felt when white kids used the word “nigger,” the Game suggested that was now a common occurrence to the point where it didn’t bother him anymore. “In L.A.,” he explained, “we got a strong Hispanic population, and they’re getting Americanized as the years go on. I’ve been walking down the street and people are just like, ‘yo Game, what up my nigger?’… ‘Wassup!’ I think when I was ten, that would’ve offended me. But these days, everybody just kind of uses it.”

But the Game does draw a line at a certain point: “Don’t use a black emoji,” he declared. “That’s offensive.”

“I really am specific about passing over the white shades to find my shade,” he continued. “My shade is like two shades from the Akon one.”

The Game’s new album, The Documentary 2, is due October 9.