Tough issues go beyond words for rapper Nas

By Hillary Crosley

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Seated in a quiet corner of New York restaurant the Spotted Pig, Nas is drinking a glass of rose. He's dressed comfortably in jeans, Velcro-fastened sneakers and a white T-shirt featuring the image of a poster from Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier's "Thrilla in Manilla" fight. His black Rolls Royce is parked outside and he's awaiting a few cigars from his driver.

In here, the noise surrounding the rapper's new Def Jam album, formerly known as "N--ger," has faded, but Nas is still happy to discuss the grand implications of it all.

Since October, when Nas first announced his intentions for the album title, he has drawn all kinds of responses, ranging from the ire of African-American activist the Rev. Al Sharpton to the support of Def Jam chairman/CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid. After certain retail distributors, which neither Def Jam nor Nas would identify, claimed they wouldn't carry an album called "N--ger," Nas rechristened it as an untitled project, starting yet another round of debate on popular hip-hop sites like nahright.com.

As the record nears its July 15 release, Nas is the first to admit he's not a one-man show. Def Jam, a unit of publicly traded company Vivendi, has to market this hot-button album while maintaining its market share, which raises the question: How do a corporation and an artist balance creative integrity with the bottom line?

THE MESSAGE REMAINS

"If I was the one watching all this s--t happen, I would want to see me ride to the end," says Nas, who promises that he hasn't changed or removed the album's incendiary commentary on race relations. "Except a lot of so-called black leaders were using my album as a platform for themselves. I would have been fighting not to get the 'N--ger' album out but to express myself, and that's not the fight I wanted. This album is about me and how I feel as a black man."

Nas' subject matter is rare for contemporary commercial hip-hop, which sells everything from mobile phones to fast food. The three hip-hop songs atop Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart -- Plies' "Bust It Baby Part 2" and Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" and "A Milli" -- focus on sex and braggadocio. But Nas says he recorded the album with entertainment as well as education in mind.

"I didn't want to 'n--ger' my audience to death," he says. "So 'Be a N--ger Too,' which I recently released a video for, isn't on the album. It didn't fit. The entire record deals with the concept, but ... I had to pace myself."

Throughout the album, Nas finds creative ways to address his subject. On the Busta Rhymes-featuring "Fried Chicken," Nas uses a woman as a metaphor for soul food and black people's attraction to deadly eating habits. ("Mrs. Fried Chicken/fly vixen/give me heart disease but still I need you in my kitchen," he raps.)

First single "Hero," featuring Keri Hilson, boasts anthemic synthesizers, a tuba, running keys and a swelling chorus as Nas explains why he changed the album title. Key lyric: "I'm hog-tied on the corporate side blocking y'all from going in stores and buying it/at first L.A. and Doug Morris was riding with it/but Newsweek articles startled bigwigs and asked Nas, why is you trying it?"

CAN CONTROVERSY SELL?

Newly minted Def Jam executive vice president Shakir Stewart says that while the company wholeheartedly supports Nas' creative vision, all parties understand the business implications of the original album name.

"Nas would not jeopardize his opportunity to get his music to the public," Stewart says. "He understands that we believe in intelligent freedom of speech, meaning whatever stance you take, be prepared for some accountability."

Stewart admits that distributors were the reason behind the album's title change but adds that Def Jam will not shy away from any future controversial singles or corresponding clips like the Nas-funded video for "Be a N--ger Too," which ends with a young black man hanged from a tree.

"Nas is a visionary," Stewart says. "Singles are a collective decision, and it's about picking the best music that demonstrates the album."