Talk about marketing. I’ve never wanted to hear a rap album so badly in my life. A new story was released by Reuters promoting Nas‘ upcoming album, formerly known as Nigger. Not everyone was cool with him calling his album Nigger, because apparently the word existing is racist. Using it, no matter the context, is also quite racist. This post is racist. Nas argues that he has the freedom of speech and since the album expresses his personal opinion of what it means to be a black man in the United States, he should be able to use it. However, he has made a concession to retail and removed the title. How completely appropriate that the record that gets people up in arms about racism in rap is one of the few albums that even discusses the subject. It’s not pussy claps, drug promotion and living beyond your means that angers people about rap. It’s talking honestly and provocatively about important social and political issues that must be stopped.

KOAR agrees with Nas and Def Jam on this one. Finding an artist with something to say is a challenge. Their voice shouldn’t be stifled, but responsibility should be exercised. Al Shartpon needs to go away.

Are we still calling EMI a ‘music company’? Massive job cuts and uncertainty about leadership have been plaguing EMI lately and now they’re headed back to court with yet another lawsuit intended to take out online competition and punish past infringements. Yet another lawsuit no artist will see a dime from.

Metallica has announced the title for their new album will be Death Magnetic. Fans are excited. Let’s hope they don’t get burned again.

Great read via BurstLabs Blog regarding Viacom’s purchase of Hype Machine.

“Somebody please make this make sense to me – obviously Viacom can’t openly endorse a service that shares (or promotes the sharing of) copy-written material, so in buying it, wouldn’t they have to change it? And if the strategy is to pay $10M for an architecture that you can fill with your own content, it perfectly illustrates the erroneous mindset of the modern music industry. Jesus, spend half that much and MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN THING. You cannot tell me that you couldn’t have a team of programmers whip up a site that aggregates content from multiple other sites for less than 10 million dollars.”

Phish is threatening to reunite.

-AJ