I Wanna Be Black Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Bosko 

Cover art for I Wanna Be Black lyrics by Lou Reed

You have to get past the initial shock value and actually read the lyics. Lou Reed is sending up "wannabe" blacks (nowadays referred to as "whiggers"--there have been several comedy films made about the phenomenon), who imitate what they perceive as the "cool" things that lower-class or ghetto blacks do, but end up insulting black people with their stupid antics. "I don't wanna be a fucked-up, middle class, college student anymore" is the key lyric here. Maybe people offended by the lyrics aren't black, but are college students? Well, yeah--Lou sure tears those morons a new one!