Nas, Def Jam at odds on N-word album

Rapper says he's going to drop an N-bomb as the title to his next album, while his label denies the explosive title.

In 2006, Nas declared Hip-Hop Is Dead and stirred the pot for months on end.

If he's going to do the same in 2007 with an album called Ni**a, he's going to have to convince his label to let him do so.

The rapper and Def Jam are reportedly at odds over Nas' desire to tackle the N-word controversy head-on by naming his album after the incendiary word. A source close to Island Def Jam Music Group Chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid told Fox News yesterday, "There is no album release by Nas on the release schedule at this point. And they would be unlikely to release an album with that title. How would that look at Wal-Mart?"

Nas announced the name during a show last week in New York, and defended his decision to MTV's Mixtape Monday earlier this week. But further explanation from Nas was not required for the Rev. Jesse Jackson to weigh in.

"The title using the N-word is morally offensive and socially distasteful," Jackson said in a statement to Fox News. "Nas has the right to degrade and denigrate in the name of free speech, but there is no honor in it.

"Radio and television stations have no obligation to play it, and self-respecting people have no obligation to buy it," Jackson added. "I wish he would use his talents to lift up and inspire, not degrade, making mockery of racism."

The use of the N-word in hip-hop lyrics, a longtime source of controversy, became a much-discussed topic earlier this year in the wake of radio show host Don Imus' comments insulting Rutgers University's women's basketball team.

Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, and others spoke out after the Imus incident, imploring rappers to use to controversy as a reason to abolish the word altogether in hip-hop.