NAS - POLITICIAN TAKES AIM AT RECORD LABEL BOSSES OVER NAS ALBUM

A New York politician is demanding the state withdraws an $84 million (GBP42 million) state pension fund invested in Universal Music Group unless rapper NAS changes the title of his new album NIGGER. Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is appalled by Nas' plans to test racial boundaries - by using the defamatory word as an album title - and he wants to penalise the rapper's music label bosses if they don't persuade him to change his mind. He rages, "They are profiting from a racial slur that has been used to dehumanise people of colour for centuries. "It is time for Nas and other hip-hop artists to clean up their act and stop flooding the airwaves with the N-word." Meanwhile, in an interview with music magazine Rolling Stone, Nas reveals he had planned to give his most recent album, Hip Hop Is Dead, the 'N' word title. He says, "The climate wasn't right, and Hip Hop Is Dead is also what I was feeling. That went first, and now I've got to get this one off my chest. "It's like talking to your child about sex. It's hard, but it's important. It's probably going to make people uncomfortable. I don't expect a lot of people to sell a record called Nigger. "Hopefully, people can open their minds up and lose some of their fear and deal with it. It's just an album. It's one piece of the many things I do, and this will be one of my favourite pieces."