Nas, whose album titles are far more interesting than his albums nowadays, has an album called Nigger coming out sometime soon. Considering the upheaval at Def Jam records, and the generally bad numbers in the music industry as a whole right now, "sometime soon" could just as well mean 2010. But of course, that didn't stop Nas from using last night's Grammys to get some free pub, while making a political statement.
Exactly what his politcal statement is, I'm still trying to figure out.
Never one to steer clear of controversy, Nas wore a T-Shirt to the Grammy Awards last night featuring the title of his new album ‘Nigger.’Peep the video and note how comically uncomfortable the interviewer is with getting anywhere close to saying "The N Word".
Despite protests from some quarters, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Nas is seemingly intent on pushing the title of the record. His wife Kelis was also at the ceremony wearing a jacket emblazoned with the divisive album title.
Speaking to CNN at the industry bash, Nas defended his fashion choice, saying: "Its all the experiences we go through every day, of all ethnicities - Black, White, indifferent.
“We’ve all at some point felt discriminated on, whether it's in Dominican Republic, whether it's in China, whether it's in Iraq with soldiers getting their heads blown off for reasons we don’t know why. The meaning of the word is supposed to be ignorant.
“So no longer are Black people still niggers, it’s also me and you (a white correspondent). I want people to think about what I’m thinking about today.”
Uh, Earth to Nasir Jones: The Voting Rights Act is a permanent federal law, which allows the right for everyone to vote, regardless of race. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 which covers some minor pre-clearance requirement of Section 5, the authority to use federal observers, and some of the statute’s language was extended last year. I suppose it's never too early to start worrying about it being renewed in 24 more years (not exactly the 23 noted here), but in the grand scheme of things, if that's the biggest of your problems, then clearly you're doing a lot better than the rest of us. Nas probably also knows some Nigerians who want to give him some money if he just emails them back, and also is expecting a check from Microsoft for all those forwarded emails any moment now.
Talk about Barbershop K-Nowledge at it's worst. Damn.
Then again, what else do you expect. It's not like Nas is sitting around everyday reading the NY Times. And that's a shame, cause if he did, he would already know this album is doomed to fail, just by virtue of it's name. There is no way in hades Walmart, Tar-jay, and whatever bargain retailer of choice is gonna put that one on the shelves. Just imagine the embarassment...
[scene: suburban kid in line at local Walmart...]
Uptight Cashier: "Damnit, this CD isn't scanning. Price check on 6!"
Black Clerk: "Uhhm, yeah, what is it?"
Uptight ashier: "Yeah, go get me the price on this album, Nigga."
Black Clerk: "Muth***** say WHUT!??!"
[and... scene]
Needless to say, this could get a little ugly. On the bright side, Al Sharpton would rack up, which I suppose is a good thing.
I'm sure that once all the weed smoke clears, Nas will say the album's trying to make some grand cultural statement about how a simple six letter word encapsulates the systematic oppression of a people for 400+ years, and how it's modern day effects are just as toxic, and whatnot, blah blah. And I'll just remember that this is the same Nas who made a gangbang anthem a few years ago (what did you think Oochie Wallie was about?), and the same Nas who hasn't said anything interesting since Illmatic, which was only, ohhh, more than a decade ago.
Nice try Nas, but we'll pass my Nigger. Maybe you should consider the same.
And before I forget, your bubbleheaded wife is thisclose to getting issued a H.S.D.
Reading, folks. It's called reading. It ain't Kryptonite. Try it sometime.
Question: Do you have any idea what the hell Nas is talking about?
Looks like Nas had a Super Bowl commercial pubbing his album that Fox refused to run. Peep this.
Nas Wears 'N*gger' T-Shirt To Grammys [Gigwise]
