Rapper Nas Selling N-Bomb: Who's Buying?

Rapper Nas is under fire from a New York State Legislator and others for plans to title his upcoming album "Nigger", according to a NY Times report. Chris Rabb has excellent commentary on the subject at Afro-Netizen.

Nas explains the title, in an MTV.com article. Some of his comments:

"I'm a street disciple," Nas responded, quoting one of his earlier album titles. "I'm talking to the streets. Stay out of our business. You ain't got no business worrying about what the word 'nigger' is or acting like you know what my album is about without talking to me. Whether you in the NAACP or you Jesse Jackson. I respect all of them ... I just want them to know: Never fall victim to Fox. Never fall victim to the sh-- they do. What they do is try to hurry up and get you on the phone and try to get you to talk about something you might not know about yet. "

Nas had more to say, and so do I, but first I ask the question: Does Nas really know what he's selling?

Nas makes an excellent point here:

"If Cornel West was making an album called Nigger, they would know he's got something intellectual to say," Nas continued. "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."

Nas correctly identifies a double standard, and a failure to consider context. There is a fine line between gratuitous thug posturing and legitimate protest music, and I would even argue that most "thug-life" hip-hop falls on the protest side of the ledger.

But he loses me a little bit here:

"You see how white boys ain't mad at 'cracker' 'cause it don't have the same [sting] as 'nigger'? I want 'nigger' to have less meaning [than] 'cracker.' ..."We're taking power [away] from the word,"

I encourage you to read the whole article, as there is a considerable amount of context missing here. I don't think Nas is way off base, a lot of people subscribe to the theory that the taboo aspect is what gives it it's power. The idea isn't new; comedian and activist Dick Gregory titled his 1964 autobiography "Nigger", and dedicated it to his mother, saying, ''Dear Momma - Wherever you are, if ever you hear the word `nigger' again, remember they are advertising my book.''

I wrote a really long, well thought-out essay on this subject about a year or so ago, and if I can find it, I'll post it in the comments section, but the gist of it was that maybe the word shouldn't lose it's power. Nas references people of the civil rights generation who might be offended, and seems to dismiss them, or rather, grants higher priority to his mission of disempowering the word than placating his elders. He reasons that he can explain it to them later.

I don't think the problem is that they don't understand Nas' angle. I think that the word has been used over the years as a weapon, as a way to instantly conjure the full force of White oppression, to put someone in a place they don't want to be, that no justification, however valid, can deaden it's impact. I also believe that to diminish the power of that word is to diminish it's ability to lay naked the fetid souls of those who use it that way.

Everyone has their own personal policy about that word. Personally, I decided that I would always censor the word to the euphemism "The N word" unless I was directly quoting someone, and it was for the purpose of identifying that person's bias. I even struggled with whether to write it out as the proper title of the album. Not because I'm afraid to offend, I curse all the time, I love to offend. But only for a good reason.

In general, I am against censorship, with the view that words are the writer's paint. I just think people need to know the picture they're painting, and how it will move people. Nas may usher in a world where the N-word is as common as "Hello". It may lose it's power completely, when the last people to remember it's punishing use have passed on. But it will always be an ugly spot on the pallette.