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[New updates (2/20/08), towards end of post.]
New Nas album will be called Nigger.
(10/13) New York-
On Friday night at New York's Roseland Ballroom, Nas announced the title of his next album: He said it will be called
Nigga and released in December. A source close to the project confirmed the name today.
Nas has said he'd planned to use that title for his last LP before he changed it to
Hip-Hop Is Dead. If the December date holds firm, Nas will have a very busy winter. On November 6 he's releasing his
Greatest Hits LP. A video for one of the two new songs on the project,
"Surviving the Times" will be shot soon. Last week, super producer Jermaine Dupri -- who has already completed tracks for Jay-Z's
American Gangster -- told MTV News he would love to be involved in Nas' upcoming new LP.
Nas headlined the last stop of the
Sneaker Pimps Tour on Friday where newcomers such as Mista Mal as well as legends EPMD and Slick Rick had sets. Even Jeru Da Damaja showed up and rocked the mic.
Nas kept the crowd antsy by not going on until well after 1 a.m., but they left visibly -- and audibly -- pleased.
He opened with
"Hip-Hop is Dead" then went into his catalog for records such as
"One Love" and
"Hate Me Now." God's Son ended with
"Made You Look," during which he surprised the fans by jumping into the crowd. Once among the people, he began jumping up and down and inciting the people to jump with him. One of Nas' security guards dove into the audience after him, pulling him back to the stage, where he stood none the worse for wear.
"He touched my hand and gave me positive energy," one woman said as the house lights came on.
Besides phat rhymes, spectators saw some of the most exclusive kicks you can hope to get, as sneakers from all over the world were displayed. There was also a pit for professional skaters who sailed up and down ramps. Still, most of the skaters had to put their boards down when the acts came on, especially Nas.
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UPDATE! DEF JAMS SAYS 'NO!' TO NAS' N*GGER ALBUM & CANCELS RELEASE!
This is according to Def Jam itself....
NEW YORK — A popular rap star's shocking claim before a Big Apple audience that his next album will be titled "Nigga" was emphatically denied Tuesday by his record label.
Not only does the rapper known as Nas not have an album called "Nigga" coming out in December, as he told a concert crowd on Friday, but he apparently has no album coming out in December at all.
"There is no album release by Nas on the release schedule at this point," a source close to Island Def Jam Music Group chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid told FOXNews.com.
"And they would be unlikely to release an album with that title. How would that look at Wal-Mart?"
But there's no doubt that Nas made the claim — which set the hip-hop community abuzz this week — during a Friday night performance at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. The rapper's "Greatest Hits" album is set to hit music store shelves in early November.
Nas — whose hits include "One Love" and "Hate Me Now" — told the crowd that he actually wanted to call his last record "Nigga," but Def Jam wouldn't hear of it, and made him change the name to "Hip Hop Is Dead."
The rapper laced his between-song shout-outs with the N-word, which he frequently used to address his fans at the New York show, the last stop on the Sneaker Pimps tour (a promotional tour for the sneaker industry, as the name implies).
“Power to the people. Power to the real people!” Nas yelled to the cheering crowd, raising one arm triumphantly in the air. “This is our m—f— world. We’re going to do it our m—f— way. … Put your fist like this: real niggas only!”
The inflammatory word pops up throughout Nas' rap lyrics, sometimes written in the plural with a "z" on the end.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson denounced the rapper's remarks about his desired album title.
"The title using the 'N' word is morally offensive and socially distasteful," Jackson said in a statement. "Nas has the right to degrade and denigrate in the name of free speech, but there is no honor in it.
"Radio and television stations have no obligation to play it and self-respecting people have no obligation to buy it. I wish he would use his talents to lift up and inspire, not degrade, making mockery of racism."
The NAACP this week also threw up its hands at the news of Nas' claim, saying the idea showed a lack of creativity and was only perpetuating toxic terminology.
"We will not support and we will not continually be assailed by other individuals who want to use that type of term in our presence," said national NAACP spokesman Richard McIntire. "This has gone on long enough."
McIntire said the absence of such racial slurs characterizes the "real history of rap," a genre of music in which rhyming words are spoken, not sung.
"The NAACP believes in free speech. We are not a censorship organization," said Vic Bulluck, executive director of the organization's Hollywood bureau. "But we think [the N-word] is pejorative, no matter who uses it — even if it's to sell records. It shows a real lack of creative imagination."
Even Don Imus' camp weighed in, amid the controversy surrounding the shock jock's anticipated return to the airwaves in December, six months after he was fired for calling members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air.
In a rather surprising meeting of the minds, Imus' lawyer gave the thumbs-up to Nas' proposed record title.
"It's a good thing," Martin Garbus wrote in an e-mail to FOXNews.com. "Words like that should be deprived of their meanings, and then they can't hurt."
Several prominent members of the African-American community who have been vocal throughout the Imus scandal, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and Oprah Winfrey, were unavailable for comment on Nas' remarks.
...pwnd.
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[NEW] UPDATE! NAS SAYS ALBUM IS GONNA BE TITLE N*GGER & DROPS THE RELEASE DATE!
NEW YORK— To some, it's a hurtful racial epithet. For Nas, it's an album title.
The rapper told MTV News that he would indeed be naming his new album after the N-word. And he denied earlier reports that the album's title would be spelled "N---a," considered in some circles a less inflammatory epithet. He said the disc is due out Dec. 11.
"(People) shouldn't trip off the (album's) title; the songs are crazier than the title," he said in an interview posted on MTV's Web site.
But some have been outraged by the rapper's choice.
"The title using the 'N' word is morally offensive and socially distasteful. Nas has the right to degrade and denigrate in the name of free speech, but there is no honor in it," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said in a news release. "Radio and television stations have no obligation to play it and self-respecting people have no obligation to buy it. I wish he would use his talents to lift up and inspire, not degrade."
There were reports that his label, Def Jam, had scuttled the title idea. But Nas told MTV that he has had no opposition from the label, and said his intent in naming the album the N-word was to take the sting out of it.
"We're taking power from the word," he added. "No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil rights movement, but some ... in the streets don't know who (civil rights activist) Medgar Evers was ... they know who Nas is," the rapper said, referring to the civil rights leader slain in the 1960s.
"And to my older people who don't know who Nas is and who don't know what a street disciple is, stay outta this (expletive) conversation. We'll talk to you when we're ready. Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power from that word."
A representative for Def Jam did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment from The Associated Press sent after business hours.
The use of the N-word is common in rap, though rapper Chamillionaire recently declared he would no longer use that word or curse in his rhymes.
Its going back and forth, it seems.
-Big ups to, AK for the news.
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Rakim is wrapping up, the The 7th Seal album.
(10/12)-
Since his last album, 1999's
The Master, fans have eagerly awaited Rakim's follow-up album. After Oh My God, a project with Dr. Dre fell through after numerous delays,
The Seventh Seal was announced...and delayed numerous times.
Fans waiting for the album to drop on 7/7/07 as promised were disappointed, as nothing of the sort occurred. However, Rakim states that he still has intentions to drop the long-awaited album, which will drop via his own
G&E Trust label.
"The number 7 has a lot of significance. The 7th letter of the alphabet is G -- that stands for God. There are 7 continents, 7 seas. The 'Seventh Seal' deals with that and also some revelations in the Bible," said Ra to Billboard. "Some call it the end of the world but for me it's the end of the old and the beginning of the new. By me naming my album that, I'm using it metaphorically in hip-hop. I'm hoping to kill the old state of hip-hop and start with the new."
Rakim further explained that there would be very few guests on the album, though a few collaborations would be recorded in the next few weeks.
Songs intended to make the cut are
"Divide and Conquer" and
"Holy Are You." "Divide and Conquer" speaks on "the state of mind of the hood and how divide can cause turmoil," explained the rapper. "How Holy Are You" deals with "the laws we're supposed to abide by, who we are, what our duties are,"
Currently, Rakim is prepping a DVD featuring interviews, unreleased tracks and live footage. In November, he will team up with Ghostface Killah and Brother Ali for the
Hip-Hop Live! Tour.
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UPDATE (2/20)
Hip-hop legend
Rakim Allah announced plans for an upcoming summer album last week during a concert in New York City.
It's been 9 years since he realsed "
The Master", and in a strong sellin sales
atmosphere it struggled with commerical success by just movin past 200 000 copies sold.
When asked how he thought this would cope with the recent struggling sales from even the highest selling artists at late... Rakim replyed "I feel confident about it.if anyone wants claissic material then they will support (Seventh Seal)"
When questioned about how pleased he thinks his long awaited fans will be with this effort he said "This is my best work so far its as simple as that." "Its been a long time coming and i wont dissapoint"
Although Rakim hasn't done much collaborations in the past he said he will be workin with Nas along with a few others. Possibly Saigon and Papoose... and even goin as far as too say he still could work with dre.
Legendary DJ Kid Capri was behind the turntables in lieu of Rakim’s former DJ Eric B, and the jam-packed venue was attended by various artists including Kool Herc, Pete Rock, M1 of Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique.
So in other words, 7th Seal might have Nas, Saigon, Papoose, and possibly more.
-Album,
should drop this summer.
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...thoughts?
if they can push this more to the mainstream and give people brains in their listening heads then maybe people have a chance..
