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Nigga is a term used in African-American Vernacular English that began as an eye dialect form of the word nigger (which is derived from the Spanish word negro, meaning black, which in turn comes from Latin niger.)
Cultural influence
The use of the term may be due to the overwhelming popularity of hip hop music in modern American culture. Such music often features songs that feature the word nigga prominently. Examples include: 50 Cent and The Notorious B.I.G.'s song, Realest Niggas, The Geto Boys' Real Nigga Shit, Ice Cube's The Wrong Nigga To Fuck With, Snoop Doggy Dogg's For All My Niggaz And Bitches, Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz and Ice Cube's Real Nigga Roll Call, Onyx's Bitchasniguz, Tupac Shakur's Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard's album Nigga Please.
Shakur defined the term NIGGA as an acronym: "Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished" in the lyrics to his song Words of Wisdom, on his 1991 album 2Pacalypse Now. In 1995, two Houston, Texas men filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the words "Naturally Intelligent God Gifted Africans", and its acronym. The application was rejected, as were numerous subsequent applications for variations of the word nigga. Most recently, comedian Marlon Wayans twice failed in an attempt to trademark a brand name called Nigga, "featuring clothing, books, music and general merchandise".