Rapper ‘Nas': Dive Into My Dumpster and Say the Magic Word
by BAR columnist Lizz
Brown
"Nas wants us to believe that rapping the word ‘Nigger'
over and over again brings about some kind of empowerment."
Every day I see him.
And every day from my third floor office window, I feel him - this
little old man, pulling his cart, taking his stick and poking around in my
garbage. I don't know him, but I suppose he lives an honorable life. He finds
meaning in and plucks value out of garbage.
I thought of this little old man last week when I read the
latest about rapper Nas. According to the headlines, Nas has
a new album coming out. And he
plans to call it "Nigger."
When asked why he would do this - take this evil, hateful,
monstrous word and make it the title of his latest album - Nas explained that
he wanted to "take the power" out of the word.
"White boys," according to Nas, "ain't mad at cracker ‘cause it don't
have the same [sting] as Nigger."
What self-serving nonsense.
Unlike the little old man in my neighborhood who digs thru
our garbage, finds the things that can be sold, makes money and changes the
world a little, Nas wants us to pay him for the opportunity to dumpster dive
into his N-word infested album. And
while we are there, rooting amongst the N-words, B-words and C-words, we will
find his rhymes of value and empowerment. An interesting hip hop strategy: we
get dirty - you get paid. And oh, by the way, according to Nas, the more
"Nigger" entitled albums we buy from him, the less "sting" that odious word
will have.
"Nas wants us to pay him for the opportunity to dumpster
dive into his N-word infested album."
I would like to think that Nas will have to experience some
resistance to this plan of his - a little blow-back from the hip hop industry.
Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. Island Def Jam Music Group
Chairman Antonio
"L.A." Reid has said, "Anything Nas wants to do, I completely stand beside him." Hip hopper Common
went even further: "Nas is making statements. That's something we need in
hip-hop. Last Poets did it, Gil Scott-Heron did it, Marvin Gaye did it. We
gotta keep making statements." Method Man wants people to stop overanalyzing the N-word. He claims from a
business standpoint, "Nas knows
what he's doing. He's a smart brother. He keeps his name in the game." R&B
singer Akon also got in on the discussion calling Nas's
title "intelligent," after all, "it's just a f---n' word."
And there you have it - Nas lays the N-word out as
political empowerment, his record label gives him the green light and his hip
hop boyz co-sign this madness because they think it sounds social and fiscal
sense.
"Method Man wants people to stop overanalyzing the
N-word."
This isn't the first financially beneficial, leap of logic
that has come out of the hip hop industry.
I know you have seen or heard the commercials "Don't
Bootleg." On the surface this seems
reasonable - do not steal. But don't
get it twisted. This campaign ordering
us not to bootleg is just as manipulative, lacking in social consciousness and
down right fake as Nas's campaign to get us to embrace his use of the
N-word.
Advertising 101 teaches us that successful advertising
campaigns rely on two things: an understanding of basic human psychology and
the manipulation of that basic human psychology. In the case of the hip hop industry, when they broadcast slick
commercials with your favorite hip hop artist reaching out to you and asking
you not to bootleg, they are hoping to manipulate you into adhering to your
moral core - your religious values. Thou shall not steal. In the meantime, that same industry markets
albums that showcase Nas
advocating killing on his CD:
"Really it's papers I'm addicted to,wasn't for rap then I'll
be stickin you"
But don't bootleg
Method Man can warble for hours about coveting your neighbor's
things:
"Yeah, I got to have that
mansion and the yacht
the room to park the phantom on the yacht...
"I got to have the fast car, the crash bar, place to stash the heaters
In the dash bar, and then I need no limits on that black car.
This is just a few of them things that I ("got to have") hell yeah..."
But don't bootleg.
And Common can dishonor every child's mother
until his tongue gets tired:
"I make righteous bitches get
low"
But don't bootleg.
I guess I get it - the hip hop industry wants us to follow
all ten of the commandments. While they
only have to adhere to one half of one - Thou shall not steal - my stuff.
Is this an advocacy for stealing? I don't think so. But the
hip hop industry should really, really, reconsider their current position. Why should the public protect their
interests when they have so little regard for ours? We should not have to soil our minds to get to our truths or a
little bit of poetry.
"Why should the public protect rappers' interests when
they have so little regard for ours?"
And if that is too hard - if it is too hard for the industry
to climb out of the dumpster, then tell the whole truth. Nas and others like
him want to say what they want, when they want it and get paid big to say it.
That is the truth.
Don't ask us to believe that rapping the word "Nigger" over
and over again brings about some kind of empowerment. It does not. It brings
about commercialization. And while we
are at it, don't try to get us to swallow that Nas is some kind of Political
Strategist, that he has been anointed and that he has the skill set to
determine the future of the N-word. He
is not, he has not and he does not. He
is a rapper/poet/artist who wants primarily to stay noticed, and get paid. Period dot.
It's probably not what Martin would do. It's probably not what Malcolm would
do. And at the end of the day, given
all that confronts us, it's really not what we should do.
Lizz Brown is a veteran
journalist, broadcaster, activist, educator and attorney based in St. Louis.
She can be contacted at lizzbrown@sbcglobal.net
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