Can a deejay play whatever he wants?

I had big fun at the Blackberries and Business Cards DC Tweet-up last night. Thanks to @originalnajeema and the planning committee for pulling this together. I got to hang out with some of my favoritest tweeps, plus I was able to put some handles to faces and make new tweeps. We talked, drank, ate and had started to shake a little booty...then it went to crap.

We started the evening at The Helix Lounge for happy hour, went to Thaitanic for dinner and a few of us continued up 14th Street to Cafe Saint Ex to keep the party going. This is when things start to get shaky.
There is a nightclub in the basement of Cafe Saint Ex. Not necessarily our cup of tea, but they had a deejay, dance floor, bar and some seating, so we decided to stay and chill for a bit. Things were going fine until the deejay put on the explicit version Kanye's "Gold Digger." I make the distinction of the explicit version for a specific reason. This version of the song contains Kanye's repeated use of the word nigga, whereas the clean version blips it out.

Whether or not you agree with anyone's use of the word; whether or not you think the word should be stricken from the American lexicon or whether or not you think we as American Black's should "get over it," at this point in time, it is widely accepted that the word is offensive, so it is better to air on the side of conservatism and not say it. So why would the deejay play the explicit version, knowing the 100+ Gen X, Y and Zs would yell the bridge at the top of their lungs and knowing there are at least 4 Black women in the audience (I had gone to the deejay earlier in the night)?

When the song started, my girlfriend's and I looked at each other, wondering which version of the song would come on, and as soon as I heard it, I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd to the deejay. I said a few things, he apologized and began bleeping the word. There was no-way-in-hell I was going to let sit there while a room full of white people yelled nigga for 5 minutes...that wasn't going to happen. Forgetting his horrific lack of judgment, I was satisfied with his handling of situation.

The point is, this isn't the first time and won't be the last time he plays the explicit version of the song. If I hadn't said anything, he would've played the song in its entirety.

• Do deejays get a pass to play whatever they want?
• If the record label thought it was okay to record, then it must be okay to play, right?
• If Kanye, a Black man, sang the word, then it must be okay to play, right?
• And let's be clear, Kanye isn't the first rapper/hip hop artist to record the word, however, he is the first mainstream artist to use it.

I am a vehement believer in our Bill of Rights, especially our right to free speech; however, just because we have the right to say, record, write, publish, print or post whatever we want, doesn't mean that everything should be said, recorded, written, published, printed or posted.

I won't be gracing Cafe Saint Ex's establishment in the future. I'm a lover, not a fighter, plus it was total buzz kill.