Nas Changes Album Title From 'N*gga' To 'N*gger'

Fresh from being lambasted by civil rights figures, Nas has changed the controversial title of his new album from ‘Nigga’ to ‘Nigger.’

The rapper has also denied media reports that his label DefJam were about to prevent the album from being released, saying he and the label don’t know where the story came from.

Asked about Reverend Jesse Jackson’s protest at the album title in an interview with Fox News, Nas strongly defended the move.

Nas told MTV: "I'm a street disciple. I'm talking to the streets. Stay out of our business. You ain't got no business worrying about what the word 'nigger' is or acting like you know what my album is about without talking to me. Whether you in the NAACP or you Jesse Jackson. I respect all of them ... I just want them to know: Never fall victim to Fox.”

Speaking about exactly why he chose the title, Nas said he wants to take the power out of the word. He continued:

“I wanna make the word easy on muthaf*ckas' ears. You see how white boys ain't mad at 'cracker' 'cause it don't have the same [sting] as 'nigger'? I want 'nigger' to have less meaning [than] 'cracker.' With all the bullshit that's going on in the world, racism is at its peak. I wanna do the shit that's not being done. I wanna be the artist who ain't out. I wanna make the music I wanna hear. 

"We're taking power from the word. No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil-rights movement, but some of my n*gga in the streets don't know who [civil-rights activist] Medgar Evers was. I love Medgar Evers, but some of the n*ggas in the streets don't know Medgar Evers, they know who Nas is.

”And to my older people who don't now who Nas is and who don't know what a street disciple is, stay outta this muthaf*ckin' conversation. We'll talk to you when we're ready. Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power from that word."