The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s daughter Ashley may be a budding rapper now, but her father is nixing any mention of the “n-word” from her songs.
A representative for Ashley Jackson – who raps under the name AJae and released her first single, “Fleek,” earlier this month – told TMZ that the senior Jackson has requested his daughter not use the “n word,” or any profanity for that matter, in her raps.
Of her new single, Jackson said: “I want all the younger kids, even older kids listening, to know that ‘fleek’ means ‘on point,’ but it also means being on point on your education, in your self-esteem, and just making sure that you have everything together. So even though my song is a little more on the materialistic side, I have to redefine it for everyone else because I really feel we need to focus on [those things] as a community.”
Asked by Rolling Out whether she thought there were any benefits to entering the rap game as the daughter of Jesse Jackson, the younger Jackson said she wanted to forge her own identity away from her famous father.
“But I think ultimately it’s helped me a lot,” she conceded.
Ashley Jackson isn’t the only rapper to be asked by the Revered not to use to the n-word; in 2006, Jackson announced he would meet with leaders of the entertainment business, including rappers and comedians, to get them to stop using the word.
Of course, Jackson was famously caught by a hot mic using the word during a break in a Fox News interview in which he criticized then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.