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How the West Coast Could Have Helped Nas
So news broke yesterday that Nas would be changing the title of his upcoming album from N****r to something a bit less controversial. It was bound to happen, but I’m surprised that it took this long for the news to come out. I also thought Def Jam would have had a bit more of a spine, but the financial/political pressures must have been too much especially with the current business climate.
I always thought it would be a great idea for Def Jam to borrow a play from Eazy-E while selling Nas’ new CD. For those who don’t know, Eazy’s last album was called “Str8 Off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton” and Ruthless didn’t change its name in order to sell it in stores. They got around this by using scratch off paint (Like lottery tickets) to self-censor the title. Consumers then had the choice of scratching off the title or leaving it alone. I fondly remember picking up Eazy’s last CD and using a penny to restore the album to its proper name by scratching off the paint.
Why Def Jam didn’t go this route is beyond me. It would have offered Nas the artistic freedom to express his views, while offering retailers some sort of defense against angry politicians and shareholders. Would I have liked to see Nas keep his title and Def Jam back him up unequivocally? Of course, but since that’s not happening, this route would be better than changing the name completely.
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