Still on the Fence About Nas’ New Album
by Latoya Peterson
Skimming through the MTV newsfeed, I saw an interesting item that sheds a little more light on the ideas and concept of Nigger.
We’ve heard him rap from the perspective of a gun that has been used in several homicides. He’s rapped from the perspective of a kid on a project bench. And on his upcoming album, Nigger, he’s at it again, reciting lyrics from the viewpoint of an insect. One of the standout cuts he previewed for MTV News on Tuesday is called “Project Roach.”
“A roach is what I am, fool/ The ghetto is my land, fool,” he raps on the track, which was produced by No I.D.
“I get to thinking about how we evolved, how the human family evolved and sh–,” Nas said Tuesday from Jimmy Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios. “And I looked at ants, man. One day, I was looking at a bunch of ants. We’ve got a lot in common — just like everything that’s alive, everything that eats and breathes and builds and creates. There’s a connection to even the smallest thing. So I looked at it as the whole world, instead of looking at us as beauty. Inside poverty, inside the street, inside the ghettos and the gutters and the slums, we aren’t looked at as beauty out there. We were looked at as the worst pest, and because of that, because of that treatment, some of us started to believe we were a pest, started to believe what we were told, and started to act like it, and started to reproduce my people, bring kids in the world that were f—ed up in the head.
Nas then continues in this vein, personifying the word itself:
At times on “Y’all My Niggers,” he comes from the stance of the N-word. “Try to erase me from y’all language/ Too late, I’m engraved in history/ … They got Nigeria and Niger/ Somehow Niger turned to ‘nigger,’ and things got ugly.”
MTV notes Nas’ quest to inform, saying:
He’s abrasively frank throughout the album, with his song names and content. He holds back nothing. On the title track, he calls out racists, as well as holds a mirror up to people who actually perpetuate the stereotypes bigots spread.
“N-I-double-G-E-R/ We are much more, but we choose to ignore the obvious,” he raps on the song. “You are the slave and the master/ What you looking for? You’re the question and the answer.”
Nas then continues to probe deeper into his mindset while creating the album, saying:
“Somebody asked me, what’s your inspiration for this album? Everything that’s happening every day,” he explained. “I can’t really turn an album in when, like, next week it will be something else that will come to light and make me want to write about something. It’s hard to finally wrap it up, but I finally got there. I’m finally there now. Wow, this year is panning. … This year looks like it’s going to be amazing.
“Whas huge for me,” he added, “is when there’s an attack on hip-hop artists, and they say that hip-hop artists are responsible for the language, the terrible language, and for the violence. When we get attacked like that, we respond. We gotta to respond. We don’t want to pay too much attention to it, but with an album like this, this is my response in some ways to that, ’cause it’s, like, hypocritical, you know what I mean? With the way people are dealing with hip-hop and trying to use it as a scapegoat. So this album is like, ‘We’re not having that.’ “
MTV also reports that Nas has changed the title of the album:
“It’s important to me that this album gets to the fans,” Nas said in a statement released Monday afternoon (May 19). “It’s been a long time coming. I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. It’s that important. The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it.”
In light of our last conversation, I have changed my stance on the album to “cautiously hopeful.” Reading the MTV previews and excerpts from lyrics has piqued my interest.
MTVEmphasis on the cautiously in “cautiously hopeful.”
However, I still stand by my initial assessment of the first single. To lift a phrase from AverageBro, it still sounds like that special brand of Barbershop K-nowledge put on wax. I would have expected such stylings from Polow da Don, not Nas.
Thoughts?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Bored Kidz!!!!! wrote:
Wow, that was actually interesting. I am so glad that he changed the name of his album, though. He probably wants people to focus on the music, NOT on the controversy of the album title.
That being said, what he said about comparing people to ants or “pests” was quite interesting, and I’m afraid to say, quite true.
Posted 23 May 2008 at 10:08 am ¶
That Queer Chick wrote:
I’m on the fence, too. When I first heard the album title, I was inclined to at least consider the possibility that it was an attempt to get attention through shock value, but then, hopefully, to guide that attention toward serious discourse. I was put off, though, by seeing the pics of the word “nigger” on Nas, his wife, and their whole entourage at the Grammys. I thought it was tacky , sensationalist, and offensive. But maybe that’s just me being inconsistent. As I said, I haven’t decided.
I tell you one thing that I know does bug me–MTV, so-called “Music television,” can’t spell Jimi Hendrix right? Come on, folks, please!
Posted 23 May 2008 at 10:33 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
I’ll have to hear the entire album. I’m a big fan of one Nasir Jones, so I can’t make an assessment until I hear the whole thing.
But he had it down with the ant/roach comparison.
Posted 23 May 2008 at 11:26 am ¶
Phil wrote:
I have no doubt in my mind that this album will be very thoughtful and creative. His choice of collaborators should tell you where this album is going to go! TWO WORDS: DEAD PREZ.
Posted 23 May 2008 at 1:25 pm ¶
Vee wrote:
One of the wierdest issues concerning this particular CD is the use of the word. Outside of hip hop where the word is used ad-nauseum many writers and artist used this from John Lennon to Randall Kennedy.
Whether you agree with him or not, his decision to not simply use the word but consciously address it will spark debate.
Sure there’s a bunch of sensationalism on his part to create interest in his project, after all, he is a hip hop recording artist. I’ll question how effective his final project may be but I won’t completely dismiss it. Q-Tip once suggested the word was a term of endearment. I never bought that line of argument but he’s entitled to his opinion.
Posted 23 May 2008 at 2:23 pm ¶
JustChaz wrote:
“Q-Tip once suggested the word was a term of endearment. I never bought that line of argument but he’s entitled to his opinion.”
Hmmm, I think that it’s partly a term of endearment, but of course the context changes with the situation. But interestingly enough, I think it’s interesting that this is the first time someone has bought up “Sucka Nigga” when discussing Nasir’s new album.
Regarding the first single/song, overall, I believe part of it shares the same sentiment as Paul Mooney’s infamous “everybody wanna be a nigga till it’s time to be a nigga” (I think I just butchered it, but I think everyone should get the point).
Has anyone else heard “N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave And The Master)” yet? I think this was the sugar to go down after the sour lemons, so to speak.
Posted 23 May 2008 at 6:29 pm ¶
Angelyca wrote:
So far I have downloaded a few tracks from his upcoming release and while at first I was wary (and like Latoya stated I suppose the best stance is to remain s0) I have to say they’re already in my highest rated playlist
Posted 24 May 2008 at 2:10 am ¶
uu wrote:
I know its alittle weird and has no base whatsoever but, if Nas had kept the album name I keep thinking of the concept of “people buying the ‘N.i.g.g.e.r’ album,” more concisely, “people are buying ‘N.i.g.g.e.r music” or “buy a N.i.g.g.e.r.” And if the statistic that white people buy more rap/hip-hop music is true, one would have a lot of white people buying “a N.i.g.g.e.r,” or “N.i.g.g.e.r music.”
Anyone else come to this thought or am I just crazy and putting too much on this?
Posted 24 May 2008 at 1:08 pm ¶
Alexis wrote:
This is a tough one. As a visual artist, I support any artist’s (and any person’s) right to say whatever, whenever. HOWEVER, I hate the N-word. Hate. It! It cannot be reclaimed for good no matter how many kids or rappers try to do so. It is, and will always be a contemptuous word.
Posted 24 May 2008 at 6:22 pm ¶
Anonymiss wrote:
I’m a big-time Nas fan but I’ve been disappointed in him for a minute. All of this attention surrounding the album title had me wondering if this was some shock value effort.
Just like his last album, this album title is supposed to be conceptual but then the content of the album is not. The “Project Roach ” joint sounds very interesting.
I wish Nas would just go indy already.
Posted 24 May 2008 at 8:41 pm ¶