Nas is supposed to be releasing this Album this month......does the ignorance have no end now?

I got £5 that says he won't release it this month or call his album N*****.

Have you listened to it?

Or read the XXL article explaining the reasons behind it?

Nas is DEEP, remember that.

So is the Titantic.

.lol. @ Peacemaker.

Please expand Omoshango.

Why are we still fighting over this word?

I kind of think this fight will be eternal here in the states, but still from someone else like 50, I would expect this, but Nas would seem to know better than to do or suggest this on any level. Again, I guess I was wrong when dealing with the intelligence/morality of others.....

I feel you Omoshango and I get your sarcasm.


Nas' problem is he's surrounded by people who are less intelligent than he is....so he feels like a genius by comparison .


Very great rapper, excellent at putting rhymes together but he's not particularly smart.
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When he first came out, he was about shock value .....his early verses on group rap songs had him saying stuff like

"when I was 12 i went to jail for snuffing Jesus"

"I'm waving automatic guns at nuns"

His first album cover was supposed to be of him having Jesus in headlock


He appeared in a video being crucified...."Hate Me Now"(original version)


He called himself "God's Son" with an album of the same title....


To the sensitivities of older Black person living over here......his comments/depictions regrding Jesus may be as offensive as titling an album N.


He knows that he'll get million dollars worth of publicity and press by even hinting that he will do this.............(leaking the idea that he MAY be titling the album this)....whether he does so or not..FREE publicity....

Nas is talented artist, but he doesn't have the charisma (jay z) craziness(kanye) or staged thugness(50) to get coverage in the press...nor does he have all three of these traits like the template Tupac, so he has to manufacture reasons for the writers to cover him......so the public will care that he has a project out.

Hip hop is dead.....for example...

He's playing himself by stooping so low this time

^
True talk @DrotheJ...and you know the funny thing he has the acumen to outlast all 3 you mentioned thats the beauty of it...God indeed is the great equalizer but then Nas is trying way too hard blowing all this hot air

@Peacemaker
man that was deep...lol!!

NAS just comes from a different place. And as he says, he is speaking to an audience that many older "Black" folk just do not want to deal with anymore.

Again, have you guys heard the CD, or read Nas’ interview in XXL?

I understand the point that the word shouldn’t be used under any circumstances. It’s a valid argument. It’s probably true also that the title is simply a ploy to sell records. I agree with DtotheJ’s analysis to some extent.

But Nas also has a valid argument, and logic behind his controversial title. Wouldn’t it be more “intelligent” to listen to that argument than to comment on other people’s intelligence and morality?

I try not to use the N word myself. I cringe whenever I hear young cats using it on the subway train. But I don’t use the word “black” either, and cringe sometimes when I hear that too. Because it’s the same dehumanizing word.

There is no difference between the words Ni66er, Negro, and black. They all derive from the same Latin root. “Black” is simply English for “Negro,” which is only a variation of “******,” or vice versa.

We have no problem calling ourselves “black,” perceiving it as somehow better than “Negro.” Some even prefer “black” to “African American.” Stanley Crouch of the NY Daily News, Hip-Hop’s biggest critic, prefers to call himself a negro and until recently, insisted on referring to all Americans of full or partial African descent as negroes. Negroes! And this is the same guy who viciously castigates rappers for using the other N word.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “You black son of a bitch?” “You black *******?”

How come they never say “You African son of a bitch?”

Simple, it doesn’t work as well as an insult. “African” does not carry any of the negative connotations attached to “black,” a word created simply to dehumanize.

Think about it, why aren’t Indians and Pakistanis called “blacks,” even if they’re darker than you and me? Australian Aborigines, South Pacific Islanders, some Arabs? Why are they never referred to as “blacks?” How come we don’t see anything wrong when the media says something like “Asians, Hispanics and blacks?”

Look up the definition of “black” in the dictionary. Now contrast that to Webster’s definition of “white.” There’s no comparison between the two descriptive terms. One is clearly meant to uplift, the other to degrade. No matter how you look at it.

Nas’ argument is that the recent firestorm of controversy over the Na word was hypocritical, that we’re fighting over semantics when there are real issues facing us, issues the critics of Hip-Hop don’t want to address.

And I agree. The N word should be banned from civil discourse. But so should the word “black” and the entire concept of “race,” the greatest evil in the history of Planet Earth. And the NAACP and the United "Negro" College Fund need to change their names too!

Nas and his generation are the direct product of their parents’ generation, the social revolutionaries of the Sixties, those who in their rush to integrate America, forgot that they still had to build a strong community of their own while chasing the American dream. The Hip-Hop generation is indicting their parents for the breakdown of the once cohesive African American community and they reject their entire value system.

But what did the parents expect? If they were rebels, what did they think their kids would be? They produced an entire generation of revolutionaries, then left them leaderless. An entire generation of young people with all this reawakened African warrior energy and no direction, no guidance, no cultural-spiritual grounding other than that of the larger European society. The kids know they’re more than imitation white people. But they don’t know what that “more” is because no one ever told them. And they see their parents don’t know either. So they create their own subculture. And of course it’s going to be everything their parents despise. What happens to all that restless energy if it’s not guided in a positive direction? It turns negative, self-destructive.

I’m sure the Civil Rights Generation encountered stiff opposition from their parents when they moved from “colored” and “negro” to “Black is beautiful.” Dismissing the Hip-Hop generation as “ignorant” may make us feel better but it only serves to alienate them further. We need to try to understand these kids, not demonize them.

I understand where they’re coming from, even if they themselves can’t articulate their subconscious rage and rebellion against the Civil Rights Generation.

All this fuss about the N word, and then you open a copy of Ebony, Essence or Black Enterprise, and every other word is “black” this and “black” that.

It’s the same doggone thing as the N word!

I wasn’t being sarcastic when I said Nas is deep. He is, more than most people, and more of an African warrior than a lot of his detractors. Sure his earlier material was about shock value. But in his later work, you can see the growth, the maturity, the spiritual evolution. No he’s not trying to rival G-Unit in sales. If he was, G-Unit wouldn’t stand a chance, trust me. They’re different artists with different audiences. Fifty shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence with Nas. As for Kanye, he’s brilliant but, “be my black Kate Moss tonight?” What the hell is that about? His claim to be the “black Jim Morrison?” This guy clearly has issues, and probably wishes he was white.


“Deals made by God and the Devil
and we’re in it
pawns in the game
can’t complain and say shit
just strap up and hold on
hope for the best
prepare for the worst
no fears of nothing on earth
no tears if I’m dumped in a hearse
I wouldn’t be the first
nor the last N word”
-Nasir Jones, God’s son


P.S. There’s nothing blasphemous about calling yourself God’s son. I know I am God’s son, no matter what them crackas call me. No words or anything under the sun can ever change that.