Nas Modifies Album Title, Trades “A” For “Er” And a Controversy To Be Named Later

By: Daniel Kreps
Rolling Stone
10/19/07

The comment, made to MTV News, was aimed at Fox News, who quoted the NAACP and Jackson following Nas’ shocking announcement. So why, in the post-Imus era, is Nas electing to ruffle feathers? “I wanna make the word easy on muthafuckas’ ears. You see how white boys ain’t mad at ‘cracker’ ’cause it don’t have the same [sting] as ‘nigger’? I want ‘nigger’ to have less meaning [than] ‘cracker,’” Nas explained, though his rationalization doesn’t factor in that you could put Cheez-Whiz on a cracker, there are firecrackers and Cracker-Jacks, thus making “cracker” less potent as a racial epithet in modern society. If Nas can find another everyday use for the n-word, then he might be on to something.

Nas also denies the denial from Def Jam boss L.A. Reid, who reportedly said the album wasn’t even on the label’s release schedule. “None of us knows where that came from,” says Nas, who insists his album, his second for Def Jam, will be released on December 11th. But this album is not just about making waves; it’s also about the music (he also said a bunch of stuff about civil-rights leader Medger Evers and his daughter, though). Nigger, or the N-Word Album for the squeamish, will feature appearances by Diddy, Jermaine Dupri, DJ Toomp and Nas’ frequent collaborator Salaam Remi. Nas expects to release the first single from the album a day or two after his Greatest Hits come out on November 6th.

Source: Rolling Stone