Today in Hip-Hop: Nas Drops ‘Untitled’ Album

On this day, July 15, in hip-hop history...

2008: Nas drops off his Untitled album, a project that was accompanied by a storm of controversy for originally having the N-word as its title.

Released two years after the rap legend's Hip-Hop is Dead album, Untitled featured all of the searing discourse and technical wizardry fans had grown to expect from the rapper. Tracks like "Sly Fox," a cut that dissects the perceived biases of Fox News, show Mr. Jones to be on top for for the project.

"What's a fox characteristic? Slick shit, censored misinformation/Pimp the station, over-stimulation/Reception, deception, Comcast digital Satan/The fox has a bushy tail/And Bush tells lies and fox-trots/So, I don't know what's real," Nasir rhymes in the scathing Stic.man-produced track.

When he's not going at Fox, Nas aims his analytical lens at Black stereotypes ("Fried Chicken" featuring Busta Rhymes), the dimensions of the N-word ("N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave & The Master)") and more. Much more.

While Nas remains fiercely political, he also makes some time to jump into a couple of radio-friendly singles like his The Game and Chris Brown assisted track, "Make the World Go Round" and his Keri Hilson-featuring lead single, "Hero."

Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after moving more than 187,000 units in its first week, Untitled ultimately proved to be a pretty big commercial success for the Queensbridge artist. With dense lyricism and solid features, it's a project that acted as another strong entry into the career of a legendary wordsmith. Salute.

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