The Role of Hip Hop in the Reclamation of the N-Word: An Application of the Felicity and Accomplishment Framework

The reclamation of the “N-word” has become one of the most complex and revealing linguistic practices in contemporary North-American culture. Working within the felicity/accomplishment framework developed by Cepollaro and López de Sa, the study examines how reclaimed uses of the term depend on volatile forms of authority, unstable audience uptake and constraints rooted in a long history of racial oppression. Hip-Hop serves as a central domain where these dynamics become visible, offering textual cases of solidarity, contestation and commodification of the term. Combining philosophical analysis with qualitative research, this project shows why the N-word functions as a limit case for evaluating what reclamation can achieve and where it does encounter its primary challenges.