I think it's pretty cool what he's doing, Hiphop is dead was probally one of his best albums and it also looks like this album could end up being something special.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572287/20071018/nas.jhtml

meh, it's just another douche trying going for shockvalue in another direction imo.  making one album isn't going to take the meaning away from the word, it takes an individual person's reaction to take the meaning away from the word.

Still a cool idea though, I mean Nas always does interesting stuff and yeah shockvalue is an element but Nas is pretty legit. I cant remember him doing anything to sell out big time and he's always kept a conscious real element in his music.

I think it's pretty cool what he's doing, Hiphop is dead was probally one of his best albums and it also looks like this album could end up being something special.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572287/20071018/nas.jhtml

No way, that album was garbage.  Nothing he'll ever come out with will be as sick as Illmatic.

No way, that album was garbage.  Nothing he'll ever come out with will be as sick as Illmatic.

Agreed, but I guess that's neither here nor there.

As for the album title itself, I'm an avowed supporter. It may or may not be his ulterior motive to use the controversy sure to follow such a title as a means of selling more albums that he could otherwise, but I can't understand why this title could be considered any more deplorable than the use of the copious usage of the word in black culture. Do I use it? Yeah, of course, but the amount of black friends that I routinely chill with at the present sort of hampers that. That being said, if we are to defile such a powerful word and render it impotent, then we must first approach it as it is - an amalgamation of alphabetic letters which purport to create a word, a construction that in turn purports to harbor a certain meaning. To neuter this word, we must first treat it as a word. Only then can we deconstruct it, and then we reconstruct it as something new and powerless.

[/far-reaching rant.]

(Just in case your jab towards "stupid white kids" was aimed at me, I should probably clarify that I'm black. I could very well still be called stupid though ha.)

Do you really believe that words can't be rendered powerless? (And I'd suggest by your final sentence, which reads as a concession, that you don't) We live in an age where words previously considered outlandish are frequently uttered on television. We've moved from a society where Lucille Ball's pregnancy was never referred to by that particular word, to one where the words "bitch" and "ass" are par for the course on public television. Would I be so glib as to suggest that they've been rendered powerless? No, of course not. But I will suggest that their power is diminished because a quick glimpse at our social landscape supports the claim. I should also note that my original statement had less to do with obsoleting a word than it did with adjusting its meaning and context, or "reconstructing" it. Something of this nature admittedly requires a protracted and concerted effort on the behalf of either the masses or an few notably influential minds, but I wouldn't say that it couldn't be done at all.

FUCK NAS.  Honestly, his music is inferior even to the ICP (and they fuckin suck).  This is just a stunt to get publicity.  Honestly, you want real hip hop, listen to some wu-tang niggas.

Hahahahah! Nas isn't inferior to ICP, he slaughtered Jay Z when they were beefing.

Nas is real hiphop have you not heard Illmatic? Or listened to Nas: Ether or Rewind, that's lyricism!
He's considered one of the greatest alive, with respect from the classic artists (KRS One, Dj Premier etc) and the new. What about NY state of Mind or Made you look? Those songs are classics, ICP did WRESTLING for fucks sake.
Of course I know Wu Tang, Nas and Wu Tang were both heavily affiliated artists. The only thing that Nas has ever lacked has been consistent beats.
 
listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiOv37e1a7Q  (Ignore the video)

Saying it's for publicitiy is realistic, Saying Nas is worse that ICP that's just ridiculous.  He was just 18 when he made one of the best hiphop albums of all time. 

I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death.

FUCK NAS.  Honestly, his music is inferior even to the ICP (and they fuckin suck).  This is just a stunt to get publicity.  Honestly, you want real hip hop, listen to some wu-tang niggas.

I just obtained 8 Diagrams, it is pretty dopesauce.

I just obtained 8 Diagrams, it is pretty dopesauce.

Apparently the new Ghostface Killer album is also pretty rad, I've heard many people say it's even better than the Wu album and may compete with it for sales.