Ever since Nas
announced the title of his upcoming LP, the hip hop community has been in an
uproar; with several civil rights activists, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and representatives
of the NAACP, stating their distaste for such a decision from the rapper.
As we previously reported, foxnews.com had released statements
from a supposed close source to Island
Def Jam Chairman, L.A. Reid.
Saying that they had no intentions of letting Nas release an album with that title (Nigga) and that there wasn’t even a scheduled release in the 4th
quarter for the Queens emcee, outside of his Greatest Hits (in stores November 6th).
Nas recently
spoke to MTV and had a few things to stay. Saying that everyone shouldn’t believe
reports about Def Jam shutting his
record down and that the album title has slightly changed. He is now calling
his new album Nigger.
“It’s now called Nigger, and it is set to hit stores December 11 … I don’t know
where that [report] came from and neither does Def Jam. None of us knows where
that came from,” Nas told MTV
while at a Manhattan recording studio early Thursday (Oct. 18) morning.
Nas went on to
say that he is roughly two weeks away from completion on the new LP and had
worked mostly in part with long time collaborator and friend, Salaam Remi. And also claims that Jermaine Dupri, Diddy & DJ Toomp are
expected to provide backdrops.
“Salaam … me and him
have some real chemistry. He can go from Amy Winehouse to Spragga Benz to come
fuck with Nas. The other cats, some of us have somewhat of chemistry, some of
us don’t … [People] shouldn’t trip off the title, the songs are crazier than
the title,” Nas reveals.
Just days after Nas
announced the title of his new album during a concert in NYC, Rev. Jesse Jackson as well as
representatives for the NAACP have been
quoted to saying they are against the title and calling it “morally offensive
and socially distasteful.”
“I’m a street disciple.
I’m talking to the streets. Stay out of our business. You ain’t got no business
worrying about what the word ‘nigger’ is or acting like you know what my album
is about without talking to me. Whether you in the NAACP or you Jesse Jackson. I
respect all of them. I just want them to know: Never fall victim to Fox. Never
victim to shit they do. What they do is try to hurry up and get you on the
phone and try to get you to talk about something you might not know about yet,”
Nas says, upset that people are
so disturbed about the title without speaking to him or knowing the story
behind the title first.
“If Cornell West was
making an album called ‘Nigger’, they would know he’s got something
intellectual to say,” Nas continued. “To think I’m gonna say something that’s
not intellectual is calling me a nigger, and to be called a nigger by Jesse
Jackson and the NAACP is counterproductive, counter-revolutionary.”
“I wanna make the
word easy on muthafuckas ears. You see how white boys ain’t mad at ‘cracker’
’cause it don’t have the same [sting] as ‘nigger’? I want ‘nigger’ to have less
meaning than ‘cracker.’ With all the bullshit that’s going on in the world,
racism is at its peak. I wanna do the shit that’s not being done. I wanna be
the artist who ain’t out. I wanna make the music I wanna hear … We’re taking
power from the word.”
With little to no marketing push for the new album, Nas isn’t worried and just wants the
record out there.
“You can’t wait till
everybody is ready. I used to wait. Now I have that shit in me … where it is,
what it is, buy it or don’t but it, it’s cool. Whoever likes it, cool. Whoever
don’t like it, cool … but it’s gotta come out now.”
“This ‘Nigger’ album
is bigger than an album. This is for my daughter, when she looks back and sees
all the chump niggas in the game, she’ll say, ‘My pops was a man.’ When I have
more kids, they’ll see, “He was a man.’ That will inspire them to be real in
their life. Some people say I’m conscious, some say I’m a gangsta rapper … it’s
just me doing me. I’m stomping in my own lane. I’m doing what I do.”
Nas’ Greatest Hits hits stores November 6th
and Nas plans to release his first
single from Nigger a few days after. HipHopDX will keep you updated.
