Nas 'Untitled,' Unbowed Over Epithet

Nas spent months trying to keep the N-word as his new album's name. But with the untitled disc set for release July 15, he's just glad it's finally getting out

"I didn't want to push it back any more," says Nas (aka Nasir Jones), 34. "People are pointing at hip-hop, saying, 'Why are you using this language?' I wanted to go to the root of the problem."

Both outrage and praise greeted his announcement of the title last October. The NAACP, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were critical, while Island Def Jam chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid and Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Akon voiced support.

But the marketplace and the public determine if a title is acceptable, says David Ehrlich, an entertainment lawyer who works with hip-hop stars. "With the sale of CDs dominated by large mass merchants, the record labels tend to be restrictive in terms of what they allow as not to alienate customers," he says.

There's precedent for the title, though the word invariably attracted controversy. In the '70s, comic Richard Pryor twice used the word in album titles. Two decades later, rappers Tupac Shakur, N.W.A. and Ol' Dirty Bastard used variations. These days, the N-word is used liberally in rap lyrics and song titles — but it hasn't been a major artist's album title in years.

It's hard to gauge how well it will sell: Seven of Nas' previous studio albums went platinum, though 2006's Hip Hop Is Dead fell short with sales of 759,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Nas says he didn't change the album's content in exploring the racial epithet. On single Hero, he rhymes: "I'm hog-tied, the corporate side … Try telling Bob Dylan, Bruce or Billy Joel they can't sing what's in their soul/So Untitled it is."

The word "has an ugly history and that's the point," says Nas, who'll perform the music live on the Rock the Bells tour starting July 19. He says negative publicity could cut both ways.

Certainly, few will miss the album's allusion to slavery: The cover shows his bare back scarred with whip marks in the shape of an "N."

The image "shows nothing has changed. Even as life has gotten better, the reality is we're still in the struggle."

Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-07-07-nas-untitled_N.htm