When Nas wanted to name his upcoming album 'Nigger' it sparked conversations everywhere from media outlets, to blogs, to social activists and every online hip hop forum you can find. People criticized Nas for being ignorant and disrespecting his own people by making a mockery of Black history by naming his album 'Nigger'. Some even criticized him for pulling a publicity stunt by naming his album 'Nigger' and didnt think naming the album the N word was legitimate.I supported Nas' decision to name the album 'Nigger' from the jump because with the state that America and the Hip Hop industry are in currently where they wanted to ban certain words such as nigger, bitch, hoe.. etc. I knew from the get go that Nas wanted to provoke certain people and I also knew it would also push him to deliver music that would come with similar force as his album title.
The album title isnt anything major in my eyes because the word Nigger means nothing to me. I am a U.S citizen but I dont hail from the United States, I hail from a place that is 'Out Of Many One People' aka Jamaica and I understand the history surrounding the word Nigger and I understand why persons may feel disrespected by certain people referring to them as 'Niggas' but where I come from its not about what you say as much as its about how you say it and who you are saying it to. African Americans will never be free of the term if they continue to give the word so much power. When I fill out forms and the question is asked about ethnicity I check the box for African American but when I walk around I dont think in my head that I am an African American so that means I am not entitled to certain luxuries. I dont believe that anybody is better than me based on race infact if I was basing who was better than who by race then I would most definitely believe that being black makes you superior based on the facts, name any sport other than hockey in which a black man doesnt dominate? So physically we must be superior if thats the case. America is supposed to be united but just happens to be the must segregated place I have ever been. It is not until I was in University and going to school here in this country that I realized that in schools its segregated and if its segregated in schools then why wouldnt it be segregated everywhere else. I go to FIU, Florida International University which is an International school and still you find blacks only walking with blacks, whites together, hispanics together, jocks only hanging with jocks and geeks with geeks. The only people who mix happen to be the people who didnt grow up in this country. This is suppose to mean a massive amount to anybody reading because its the most important point, if people who didnt grow up here dont care about the color of ones skin or the class in which they come from then why should the people who grew up here?
I believe that the segregation lies within us and it matters alot about what we think about our selves. I was always told by my father that I could do anything in the world that I put my mind to and that if I wanted to be a doctor then fine or a lawyer, football (soccer) player, musician or businessman then it was up to me. I wish everybody grew up believing that because if they did then we would have way more progress in the world.
The word 'Nigger' has done nothing but hold down black people in the United States of America and I think that Nas is RIGHT for wanting to desensitize the word by naming his album 'Nigger' and anybody who thought he wasnt going to deliver after all the hype surrounding his album title really must not have much respect for Nas as an MC. Social commentary is something that Nas isnt new to and he has been touching subjects that not many in Hip Hop have spoken on.
More recently we have seen the effect of corporate power on this mainstream industry as Nas was forced to change the name of his title because certain major distributors have threaten to not stock the album with the name 'Nigger'. Read the article here on HipHopDX
Many bloggers and online critics (also known as HATERS) are still hounding Nas and saying that he doesnt have a backbone. Firstly people need to understand that the decision to change the album title isnt only Nas' decision but the corporates at Def Jam would have obviously been giving him heat if two of their major distributors would not stock the album. Also the album title is the least to Nas as it is his message that he is trying to protect and if he can get his message across to more people then that is what is most important to him.
To show you how important it is for Nas to get his message across he has agreed to change the name of the album but to still leave it untitled to show his fans and critics alike that his message will remain the same. Read the article on Nas' finalizing release date and settling with the album being 'Untitled'
For the critics and the haters who didnt believe in Nas' message well they will get it RAW on his new mixtape. Check it out here.. Nas' teams with DJ Green Lantern for 'The Nigger Tape'
For fans who are interested check out the official video for Nas' first single 'Be A Nigger Too'
Also check out one of the latest singles from Nas to hit the Internet produced by Polow Tha Don, 'Hero' featuring Keri Hilson
Nas ft Keri Hilson - 'Hero'
-Alexander Day
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