Nas Reportedly Scraps “Nigger” As Album Title

Nas may be as outspoken as they come, but apparently even a revolutionary has to know when to pick his battles. The Queensbridge rapper is reportedly scrapping the controversial title of his forthcoming album, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Nas's album was set to be called Nigger, but now the project will move forward as a self-titled album, Nas, instead.
The project is scheduled to hit shelves July 1.

The former Firm member created as stir last year when he announced at a New York show that his next album would be titled Nigga. The reaction he received then caused him to up the ante and change the title to the more provocatively spelled, Nigger.

Publicly Def Jam executives, notably L.A.Reid and Jay-Z , supported Nas' decision and in interviews hailed his artistry as a reason why judgment should not be passed on the rapper's thinking.

But rumblings soon began that the album would not see the light of day with that title, citing placement in retail stores as one of multiple reasons for a switch.

Nas recently loosen the reins on the tightly-guarded album, by putting the first single from the album, "Be A Nigger Too," out and servicing it to DJs. The album release date had been pushed back several times. At one point Nigger was set for a February release to coincide with Black History Month.

The QB poet previewed the album for MTV News last week. Among the songs included were "Project Roach," Y'all My Niggers," and "This Is Not America."

Although Nas appeared confident with the album, in an interview with MTV earlier this month, he admitted that because of label pressure he wasn't sure what the title would be come release time.

"Record stores are gonna have a problem in this day and time selling a record with that title," Nas explained. "Who knows what's gonna turn out and be on that title? Who knows what the title will be? It was important to me to let the fans know what the album would be musically...Everybody is trying to stop the title. It's just people being scared of what's real. Somebody is trying to open up dialogue for people to talk. People that's high up, who aren't really understanding what I'm doing, are scared.

"They're scared for reason I understand, but the fans gotta know either way: This is he same album," he finished. "The content is the same, the direction is the same, the message is gonna be everything I intended it to be musically." -Jayson Rodriguez