Untitled Nas album
| Untitled | ||||
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| Studio album by Nas | ||||
| Released | July 15, 2008 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 54:04 | |||
| Label | Def Jam, The Jones Experience | |||
| Producer | Nasir Jones (exec.), Antonio "L.A." Reid (exec.), A. Saleh (exec.), Cool & Dre, DJ Green Lantern, DJ Toomp, Dustin Moore, Eric Hudson, J. Myers, Jay Electronica, Mark Batson, Mark Ronson, Polow da Don, Salaam Remi, Stargate, stic.man | |||
| Nas chronology | ||||
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| Singles from the untitled album | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Independent | |
| MSN Music | A- |
| The New York Times | mixed |
| Pitchfork Media | 3.8/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Slant Magazine |  |
| Sputnikmusic | |
| The Village Voice | favorable |
The untitled ninth studio album by American rapper Nas was released by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records on July 15, 2008 in the United States, with earlier dates in some other countries. Its original title, Nigger, was changed due to controversy surrounding the racial epithet. The album is distinguished for its political content, diverse sources of production and provocative subject matter.
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, Nas' fifth to do so. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics; it holds an aggregate score of 71/100 from Metacritic.
The original title of the album, Nigger was mentioned by Nas several times, as well as on an October 12, 2007, performance at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City where he announced the title and release date.Def Jam made no comment on the title. This was similar to attempts to name his 2006 album, eventually titled Hip Hop Is Dead, to both Nigga and Hip Hop Is Dead... The N. On May 19, 2008, it was confirmed that Nas changed the name of the album to an untitled one (although on iTunes, the album is self-titled), stating that "the people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it." The cover of the album shows the back of a shirtless Nas with flagellation scars forming the shape of the letter N, a reference to the racial slur and how slaves were tortured. Fort Greene, Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries requested New York's Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to withdraw $84 million from the state pension fund that has been invested into Universal and its parent company, Vivendi, if the album's title was not changed.
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Wikipedia