Well, there is this video with Nick Cannon that is presumably a comment on how the industry side of Hip Hop could potentially turn artists in to nothing more than minstrel show performers thus, destroying the rap music universe.
As always, exercise your rights and click pause on the music player located in the side bar before playing the YouTube.
Nas, or if you prefer his new name, Nasterisk, and Island/Def Jam are pulling off the cheesy publicity stunt of pretending to take the high ground by not calling Nasterisk’s new record “Nigger” as originally intended. The media is chasing the story like a blind puppy in a meat market and throwing the “N Word” around left and right, using asterisks, like it’s somehow better than just saying it.
Billboard has this headline:
Nas Reveals ‘N*gger’ Video, Album Cover
And, that story is the source for this..
Rapper Nas has revealed the video for “Be a N*gger Too,” the lead single from his upcoming untitled album, due July 1 via Def Jam. The clip was unveiled for media last night (May 29) at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York.
The treatment for the black-and-white video, directed by Rik Cordero, features Nas looking at his reflection through a mirror and rapping about racism, politics and religion, among other things, while images of people of different races sporadically appear throughout. “We all black within, okay / we all African, okay,” the Queensbridge rapper rhymes over a piano-heavy beat.
Towards the middle of the video, a scene of what appears to be a white slave owner pointing a gun at a black male slave emerges, right before the song shifts into its chorus: “They like to strangle n*ggers / blaming n*ggers / hanging n*ggers / still you wanna be a n*gger too?”
At the end, Nas, still facing the mirror, says, “F*ck you. You had it all and you threw it all away.” When asked about the significance of that portion of the video, Nas said the concept was Cordero’s idea and he “just went with it.”
Although the album won’t be titled “N*gger” as originally planned, its cover — an image of Nas’ bare back with welts similar to the ones slaves endured from lashings — “speaks for itself. It says ‘n*gger’ real loud,” he said.
Nudge, Nudge, Wink-Wink.
Way to really take a stand there, Nasterisk.
The fact is, that if they released the album as “Nigger”, nobody would really care. It would be a story for a couple of minutes and blow over but, the statement might have had some integrity that way. The media all look like buffoons for tossing asterisks around and commentator’s saying “N Word” but, so does Nasterisk and Island/Def Jam.
You’re in the same boat with the buffoons, Nasterisk because you didn’t force the label to call the record what it is. And, your label didn’t stand behind you or your statement.
Will the stunt work? Will the public fall for it? I don’t know. But, if it does, the best you’ve done is sold your art down the river. If it doesn’t, you look a chump. Either way, your bold statement, “about racism, politics and religion”, is null.
Or, even better, your your bold statement, “about racism, politics and religion”, is N*LL.
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