MedicCook
07-16-2008, 04:05 PM
Rapper has defiant words for new album
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/16/music.nas/art.nas.gi.jpg http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/16/music.nas/art.cover.nas.jpg
(CNN) -- When Nas said he didn't name his album "Nigger" because there might be problems getting it into stores, it was no surprise. But when he said pressure from black leaders played a role, it seemed out of character.
The Queens-reared rapper has never been one to kowtow. Just last month, he referred to the Rev. Jesse Jackson as "the biggest player hater" and declared Jackson's time as a voice for black America over.
But in a recent CNN interview, Nasir Jones explained he didn't change the album's name to please the Rev. Al Sharpton and other black leaders. Rather, they were stealing his thunder.
"I don't think I liked the attention I was getting from some of the elders in my community," he said. "I saw it kind of leaning toward being about them ... only about them. I kind of wanted to just shake that off of me."
His remedy? To drop the title altogether -- literally. The album, out Wednesday, has no name. But don't think Nas is cowering from controversy -- the cover features the rapper shirtless with his iconic, gothic "N" digitally whipped into his back.
With a host of racial issues -- the Jena Six, Don Imus, nooses -- fresh on America's mind, naming an album "Nigger" seems ill-advised. Nas, however, said his goal wasn't to upset; it was to upend a society that focuses more on pejoratives than the racial plights that spawn them.
"There's still so much wrong in the whole world with people -- poor people, people of color -- I just felt like a nice watch couldn't take that away, make me forget about that. A nice day on a yacht with rich friends couldn't make me forget about reality, what's going on," he said. "That's why I named the album that -- not just that the word is horrible, but the history behind the word, and how it relates to me, how it's affected me, offended me."
Rest of article (http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/16/music.nas/index.html)
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/16/music.nas/art.nas.gi.jpg http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/16/music.nas/art.cover.nas.jpg
(CNN) -- When Nas said he didn't name his album "Nigger" because there might be problems getting it into stores, it was no surprise. But when he said pressure from black leaders played a role, it seemed out of character.
The Queens-reared rapper has never been one to kowtow. Just last month, he referred to the Rev. Jesse Jackson as "the biggest player hater" and declared Jackson's time as a voice for black America over.
But in a recent CNN interview, Nasir Jones explained he didn't change the album's name to please the Rev. Al Sharpton and other black leaders. Rather, they were stealing his thunder.
"I don't think I liked the attention I was getting from some of the elders in my community," he said. "I saw it kind of leaning toward being about them ... only about them. I kind of wanted to just shake that off of me."
His remedy? To drop the title altogether -- literally. The album, out Wednesday, has no name. But don't think Nas is cowering from controversy -- the cover features the rapper shirtless with his iconic, gothic "N" digitally whipped into his back.
With a host of racial issues -- the Jena Six, Don Imus, nooses -- fresh on America's mind, naming an album "Nigger" seems ill-advised. Nas, however, said his goal wasn't to upset; it was to upend a society that focuses more on pejoratives than the racial plights that spawn them.
"There's still so much wrong in the whole world with people -- poor people, people of color -- I just felt like a nice watch couldn't take that away, make me forget about that. A nice day on a yacht with rich friends couldn't make me forget about reality, what's going on," he said. "That's why I named the album that -- not just that the word is horrible, but the history behind the word, and how it relates to me, how it's affected me, offended me."
Rest of article (http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/16/music.nas/index.html)