Do You Want To Be A Nigger, Too? I'll Pass...

Soooo...

Everybody's favorite, once-great-but-now-relies-on-controversy-to-sell-records-rapper, is back with "Be A Nigger Too."

According to Nas this song, and album, is supposed to "take power away from the word" by beating it to death. Though I can understand his reasoning, somewhat, I don't think he has enough credibility to take on a task of that magnitude. Hell...he can't even articulate that in interviews or through song.

"I'm a nigga, he's a nigga, she's a nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga toooo...::breathe::... NIGGA!

It's not working. By allowing people who have not been oppressed by the word to use it freely only serves to grant those same people the right to oppress. Those people that are now allowed by the savior Nas to call themselves "nigga/er" will have the privelege or playing both sides of the fence when it's convenient. That white kid that puts on the doo-rag at a Nas concert and sings along with this song only has to put on a suit the next day to release the word's baggage when it's time to go to that job interview. That Asian kid that is allowed to call himself "nigga/er" probably won't have to deal with getting pulled over for driving while Asian. Pressing the issue only serves to make it worse.

Nas disappoints me. As much as I think he was one of the greatest lyricists of my time off of the stength of two albums (whatever, bitch! It Was Written was a classic!) he proves more and more with each album that as much as he tries to portray himself as the conscious rapper, he's just as confused as I am with the positions that he chooses to take. This particular song is conscious-light. If you really listen to the song, it has no substance. He even drops the attempt at social commentary and reverts back to materialism and violence in the second verse.

The more I think about it, I don't think that he's even pulling the strings in his own career. I think that his controversial angles as of late are makeovers forced upon him by his label to sell records--his artist development meeting probably went something like this...

Label Head: "You're our conscious rapper. That's the look and the market you're going for, right? You're hip...you're with it. Much cooler and edgier than your competiton Table Kweeli and Most Definite. How about we call your album Nigger and sell some records!"

Nas: "True indeed, son. Let's get this paper."

I read an article that stated that Young Buck was recently denied permission to put out a song that had an anti-police message; that same article cited how Def Jam would not allow Public Enemy to reference Mumia Abu Jamal or Amadou Diallo in a song because it was too controversial, yet the same label allows Nas to make an entire album called Nigger? The same label that put out Thug Inspiration 101 by Jeezy the Snowman? There's something wrong with this picture. Could it be that they don't take him or his message seriously? I know I don't.

“You've been everything they ever told you to be. Nasty Nas, Nastrodomas, Nas Escobar. and now you're their Nigger… At what point are you going to be a man?”

Ignorance:
Just to clarify, the statement that he made at the end about Black people not being able to vote in another 23-years is inaccurate. The legislation that he's talking about is the Minority Voter's Protection Act which was extended by George Bush 2 years ago. Voter's rights are guaranteed by the 15th Amendment regardless of race, color or creed.

The Minority Voter's Protection Act was enacted by Lyndon Johnson, along with Affirmative Action, in 1964 to prevent states specifically from requiring reading tests and poll taxes aimed to disenfranchise Blacks during the Civil Right's Movement. The law was originally supposed to be temporarily enacted for 5-years to ease the transition of the Civil Right's Act, but has since been extended to 25-year increments as "showcase" political legislation to highlight the government's commitment to Civil Rights.