This week on Billboard’s list, Billboard 200, Nas’s album titled, Untitled sits at the number one spot. Originally titled ‘Nigger‘ this album fueled much controversy and uproar from the NAACP and many other political activists from the very moment its release was announced. Andy Kellman of Billboard’s All Music Review wrote, “All he had to do was mention the one word as an album title…. a mere jumping-off point…” And a selling point too. The album dropped on July 1st and climbed to #1 in 29 days proving that not only sex sells, but political pissing-off does as well.
Nas is not known for his diplomacy, often getting right to the point with many, if not, too many expletives and obscenities. This time, after a wise rename, in Untitled, Nas addresses issues of diversity, racism, stereotypes and politics. Writes Kellman, “It’s his most purposeful album; nearly every verse goes beyond talking trash and recalling exploits.” He approaches sensitive tangents of Pan-African history spanning from slavery to the potentiality of having a Black president in the White House.
One [should] come away from this album outraged. Like most media and news today, if you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention. His lyrics are harsh and blatant as one would except; in ‘You Can’t Stop Us Now,’ Nas addresses the post-slavery generation’s grief, “I know your hunger kid, I know they hung your dad / Burnt ya mama crib, I know that hurt you bad.” In the track, ‘America’, the Black version of Eminem’s ‘White America’ is a call of duty, “This is not what you think it is /America (America), pay attention / Wake up (America).”
In this tense and often intense era of P.C. and inclusiveness we are demanded by people of both sides to re-look or worse, start to look at where our problems stem from. Nas makes his message clear in ‘N.I.G.G.E.R.,’ “Cause anytime we mention our condition, our history or existence / They callin’ it reverse racism,“ it is time for people of all colors to reconstruct what race really means. This album defines the liberal, frustrated attitudes of the U.S., especially with the upcoming elections. It’s time to Vote or Die; my homage, if you will, to P. Diddy’s 2004 campaign for youth involvement.
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