Angelou slams Common for using the N-word

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. poet Maya Angelou says she had "no idea" rapper Common planned to use the N-word throughout a song featuring one of her poems.

Angelou told the New York Post Common, a recently acquired friend, asked her to write and recite verse to use on his new track "The Dreamer."

An example of what she penned is: "From Africa they lay in the bilge of slave ships / And stood half naked on auction blocks /... and still they dreamed."

Common's lyrics include lines like: "Told my [expletive Kanye West] I'm 'bout to win the Grammys now" and "[expletive] with no heart, I'm the peacemaker."

"I had no idea that Common was using the piece we had done together on [a track] in which he also used the N-word numerous times," Angelou told the Post, adding she feels the use of the slur is "vulgar and dangerous" to the black community.

"I'm surprised and disappointed. I don't know why he chose to do that. I had never heard him use that [word] before. I admired him so because he wasn't singing the line of least resistance," she said.

Common admitted to the Post he didn't tell Angelou he intended to use the objectionable word in the song, but he also insisted they have since talked and agreed to disagree regarding the melding of their two works in the song.

"I told her what 'The Dreamer' was about and what I wanted to get across to people," he told the newspaper. "I wanted young people to hear this and feel like they could really accomplish their dreams."

One of the dreams Common mentions in the song is living in Miami with "exquisite thick [expletive]," the Post said.