If you haven't heard the latest big rap news, Nas is planning on titling his new album N****r. Nas' record label is standing behind this decision, and the album is scheduled for release on December 11th.
Not everyone is supportive, however. Al Sharpton had previously come out against the title, saying that he opposes anyone using the word.
50 Cent also opposes the album title, but for a somewhat different reason. He thinks it's dumb.
Nas sucks. It's nonsense, man. That's a stupid name. It doesn't make sense. Why would you title it that?
He just wants to make basic conversation. Other than that, there's nothing interesting in that. It's just for shock value.
Yeah! If he wanted publicity, he should've just faked a feud with Kanye West! To make this even more interesting, 50 gave this quote while on the set of his new video for the song "I'll Still Kill," which in addition to being an awesome song, features the chorus "I'll still kill, if n****rs get to f**kin' around."
Nas justified the title to MTV:
I wanna make the word easy on mutha----as' ears. You see how white boys ain't mad at 'cracker' 'cause it don't have the same [sting] as 'n****r'? I want 'n****r' to have less meaning [than] 'cracker.'
As a white boy who has been called a "cracker" several times in my life, he's right. It doesn't sting. It's kinda funny, actually. I was originally of the position that this was a bad album title, just because I thought some people would be too uncomfortable to buy it, thus costing Nas sales. But if Nas' plan works, then I support it 100%. It could help people bring up a touchy issue and have a meaningful debate. Also, for once in my life I would like to be able to blast the chorus of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" in my car without worrying about whether someone is going to kick my ass.
