Nigga is a term used in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) that began as an eye dialect form of the word nigger.

The term is used in AAVE to replace words such as pal, friend, chum, people, person, boy, etc. For example, when speaking AAVE, one might say, "European niggas can ball" which can be translated into English as, "European guys can play basketball very well." Another example would be, "Where my niggas at?" The Standard American English gloss would be, "Where did all my friends go?"

Rapper Tupac Shakur stated, "Nigger - a black man with a slavery chain around his neck; Nigga - a black man with a gold chain on his neck." Demonstrating how the term has evolved significantly over time and that there is a distinction between the implication behind the use of nigga and nigger. In practice, its use and meaning is heavily dependent on context. Tupac Shakur also 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.

As of 2006, the word nigga is used, without intentional prejudice, among all races of people in the USA, including African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and more recently by some Caucasians. ^*" target="_blank" >[http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.09.98/cover/nigger-9814.html This may be due to the overwhelming popularity of rap music in modern American culture. Such music often features songs that either heavily use the word or feature nigga prominently. For instance, 50 Cent's 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, Onyx's Bitchasniguz, Kanye West's Crack Music, and even the late Ol' Dirty Bastard's album Nigga Please.

Many, however, continue to see the word as pejorative, and its use outside African-American communities remains controversial. Many African-Americans express offense when referred to as a nigga by Caucasian people, but not if they are called the same by other African-Americans. In this case, the term may be seen as a symbol of fraternity and its use outside a defined social group an unwelcome cultural appropriation. Critics have derided this as a double standard. ^*