Will Nas’ New Album Hit Stores With Its Title Intact?

Jess Harvell | February 19, 2008 12:00 pm
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Nas has been running into problems thanks to the proposed title for his upcoming album–you may have heard about it; it’s the N-word–since it was announced in October. But with the (rumored) album cover circulating ’round the Web since December, Nas and Mrs. Nas showing up to the Grammys in promotional N-word jackets, and Nas putting up his dukes on high-profile hip-hop magazine covers as he brandishes the album’s controversial slur, it looked as if Def Jam was going to let the rapper’s shit-stirring title stand unedited. But the album was initially announced as having a (highly unrealistic) December release date before being pushed back to February, and with February almost gone, it seems Def Jam’s L.A. Reid is still wary about shipping the record before it’s “ready.”

Though Nas seems confident that his controversial title will fly, Reid is not so sure. When asked if the new Nas album will be released with the n-word title, Reid replied with, “We’ll have to see.”

According to Reid, the album, which was originally slated for a December 2007 release will drop sometime this spring. “Hopefully we’ll get it in April or May,” he told SOHH exclusively. “Something like that, somewhere around there. It’s getting there, we’re getting close.”

Who knows whether it’s boardroom wrangling over the title, a late-breaking tracklist change, or the now all-too-familiar “we’re gonna keep pushing this hotly anticipated album back for no obvious reason” major label marketing strategy that’s actually delaying Nas’ button-pushing opus, but Reid notes that anxious fans can still snag Island Def Jam’s upcoming Lionel Richie album in the interim between now and the second quarter of ’08 ’09 TBA.

Nas ni99a [sic] Album Title In Jeopardy [SOHH]

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