Nas and Nelly (I know, random) are two of the few artists nowadays saying anything that makes sense to me about the world outside of uh….rap/champagne/cars/coke prices and asses. Nothing wrong about rapping about that stuff too…but how more interior option packages are there on a drophead Rolls anyways? Snore….

You already know I had a mild coronary watching that Fox News piece on Nas’ new N-word album the other day….and then reading some dubious quotes from a Def Jam “source” that they were deading that title because “how would that look at Wal-mart.” (?!?!) Well that was just the icing on my frustration.

But thankfully, it looks like Nas is sticking to his guns (this time, lol). He told MTV News…

“It’s now called Nigger, and it is set to hit stores December 11.”

Well, alrighty then. I guess that “-er” will make sure that nobody misinterprets the title as a “term of endearment.” Yes, idiots, it’s definitely a statement about racism in America.

Nas says:

“If Cornell West was making an album called Nigger, they would know he’s got something intellectual to say…To think I’m gonna say something that’s not intellectual is calling me a nigger, and to be called a nigger by Jesse Jackson and the NAACP is counterproductive, counter-revolutionary.”

This comment comes after Jesse Jackson released a statement that nobody needed from him, saying:

“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.”

Making a mockery of racism? Like how many community and government leaders make a mockery of the responsibility they’ve been given? Hmm. Last time I checked, Nas wasn’t a member of the Jerky Boys. Comedy isn’t his thing.

Now I dont always agree with Nas’ social commentary (the rant about inter-racial relationships and Tiger Woods and Taye Diggs seemed very outdated and narrow-minded) but I always agree with his mission to say something at least some of the time, yeesh!

Nas: “This Nigger album is bigger than an album. This is for my daughter, when she looks back and sees all the chump n—as in the game, she’ll say, ‘My pops was a man.’ When I have more kids, they’ll see, ‘He was a man.’ That will inspire them to be real in their life. Some people say I’m conscious, some say I’m a gangsta rapper — it’s just me doing me. I’m stomping in my own lane. I’m doing what I do.”

Click here to read more of Shaheem’s MTV News interview with Nas.

In fact, the more I read, the more I love the statements he’s making:

“At this point, I’m looking at the whole world differently. I’m looking at how politics could really be effective for people today, how me as an artist could be more effective. … I listen to the radio sometime and I like the vibe of that. I go to a club, and my favorite sh– is Soulja Boy ['Crank That']. I wanna get down with them joints, but … [my records] do not come out like that.”

“And to my older people who don’t now who Nas is and who don’t know what a street disciple is, stay outta this mutha—-in’ conversation. We’ll talk to you when we’re ready. Right now, we’re on a whole new movement.”

Obviously, if the album is really called N—-r, it will be packaged in a certain way. And as someone who doesn’t use the word but hears it all the time used in the casual -gga form by all different races, I do think it merits debate. Just today there were more swastikas and nooses found here in oh-so-cosmopolitan NYC. So there’s some backlash happening, and its not the old vs the young. Its the young vs the young.

So fuck Fox fauxcasters and corrupt politicians angling for a good look. This artist and this album seems like a much more productive way for folks to have it out. And I hope that it becomes a multi-racial one.