NI**ER...?

LEFT: Original Album Artwork RIGHT: Modified Album Artwork

For those of you unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding Nas' latest album, it is roughly as follows:

Hip-hop superstar Nas sought to release his latest album with the title Ni**er. However, prior to release the plan was floated around by some heavyweights, and certain chain stores and radio station said they'd never sell/ play an album with such a title. Some fans also expressed discomfort. Thus it was decided by Def Jam Records, Nas himself, or both to change the title of the album to "Untitled"...or "Nas" depending on who you ask. Right now people seem to be referring to it as "Nas' 9th Album."

According to Nas: "The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it."

Now, while much or all of the controversy has centered around the actual title of the album, I find the album artwork highly interesting. As jarring as the original artwork is, I believe that the new, modified artwork is actually more shocking, more memorable, and more powerful.

Because of what happened with the album's title, the new artwork has a context; it's very existence is reactionary. It's very existence tells a story. And without doing so explicitly, it engages the viewer in the exact way that Nas sought to originally. I for one, think this will be one of the most remembered and acclaimed album covers in the history of modern music.

Obviously, album covers throughout time have used provocative imagery. Being provocative is one of the most important things artists can do. One of my own album covers used cocaine, and I still feel awkward showing it to people even though I feel it is one of my strongest works. And artists know you can find this strength through confrontation.

What makes Nas' cover unique is that, unlike other provocative albums, he didn't plan using provocative imagery; he had to transfer his message from verbal language to visual language due to market censorship. I say market censorship because in the United States we might not overtly censor like the Chinese do, but we cut off your funds. And because we are a market-driven society, when the funds leave a project, the project is dead. People like Bill Oreilly will call for a boycott of a product/person/business or Walmart will declare a product/person/business 'too political.' Shareholders get scared and the project dies. So yes, there are constraints. One performance art teacher I had told me that the first step in any piece of performance art is to know the rules of the game and know how to use them to your advantage. If you can operate within the constraints, you can win.

In a way this whole Nas thing is like a giant performance art piece. I would have liked to have seen it stay the way it was, but I see how certain people could be upset with seeing that word in public, in a store with their children, etc.

People really just don't want to talk about race. It's become like religion in that its practically considered rude, certainly taboo, to discuss in polite conversation. People are having to confront their prejudices and hesitance to understand race faster and harder than they expected, or wanted to.

Every 18 months or so some racial scandal breaks out: Don Imus, Kramer, or whoever will say something racist and conclude their apology with something along the lines of: "and I'm happy we're now having a dialog about this issue, which we are finally confronting."

Then nothing happens. People keep their prejudices internalized, stay polite, and the world keeps on turning.

However, I believe the ascendancy (and hopefully election) of Barack Obama has and will do a great deal to further Americans' ability not to look past race, but to understand it. If anything, the PC movement to treat everyone as colorblind and to ignore race was not just a failure but a detriment to all race relations.

And what a great segue this is, as today Nas' fresh new track "Black President" was leaked onto the internet. It is a response to Barack Obama's recent clench of the Democratic Nomination. It can be heard below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-koZhS5urrA