Jim_Davis
10-26-2007, 11:43 AM
By TMA | October 25, 2007 - 9:35 pm - Posted in News
A New York Assemblyman has called on Universal Music Group to change the title of Nas’ upcoming album, ******, or lose $84 million in investments.
As reported earlier, Nas announced his album’s controversial title at a concert two weeks ago, and the news was met with stern disapproval from Reverend Jesse Jackson and The NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
Despite the uproar caused by his announcement, Nas said he would not be changing the album’s title and claimed that his label Def Jam, a subsidiary of Universal, had not offered any resistance to the title.
According to The Brooklyn Paper, Fort Greene assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries has requested New York’s Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli ‘to withdraw the $84 million that the state pension fund has invested in Universal and its parent company, Vivendi’.
“[They are] profiting from a racial slur that has been used to dehumanize people of color for centuries,” said Jeffries. “It is time for Nas and other hip-hop artists to clean up their act and stop flooding the airwaves with the N-word.”
The Brooklyn Paper reports that a recent report showed that ‘the New York State Pension Fund has $2.8 billion invested in 16 major entertainment companies, including Time Warner and Disney. That number does not include the state’s investment in Vivendi.’
“It’s a staggering amount of money, which at least justifies a review of the appropriateness o f the content that is flooding the public,” said Jeffries, who formerly worked as an assistant general counsel at CBS and a lawyer at Viacom before he was elected last year.
A spokesperson for DiNapoli, who manages the pension fund, said that the comptroller “is concerned about this issue and is intending to contact [Universal] and urge them to halt the release of the album.
Earlier this year, The New York City Council voted to ban the use of the word “n*****”.
“The [Council made] an important symbolic step, but I’m more interested in the substantive approach of reviewing the multi-billion-dollar investment that the New York State pension fund makes in the entertainment industry,” said Jeffries.
Universal did not repsond to a request for comment.
n***** is slated for release on December 11th.
http://www.themostaccess.com/2007/10/25/un...ose-84-million/
A New York Assemblyman has called on Universal Music Group to change the title of Nas’ upcoming album, ******, or lose $84 million in investments.
As reported earlier, Nas announced his album’s controversial title at a concert two weeks ago, and the news was met with stern disapproval from Reverend Jesse Jackson and The NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
Despite the uproar caused by his announcement, Nas said he would not be changing the album’s title and claimed that his label Def Jam, a subsidiary of Universal, had not offered any resistance to the title.
According to The Brooklyn Paper, Fort Greene assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries has requested New York’s Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli ‘to withdraw the $84 million that the state pension fund has invested in Universal and its parent company, Vivendi’.
“[They are] profiting from a racial slur that has been used to dehumanize people of color for centuries,” said Jeffries. “It is time for Nas and other hip-hop artists to clean up their act and stop flooding the airwaves with the N-word.”
The Brooklyn Paper reports that a recent report showed that ‘the New York State Pension Fund has $2.8 billion invested in 16 major entertainment companies, including Time Warner and Disney. That number does not include the state’s investment in Vivendi.’
“It’s a staggering amount of money, which at least justifies a review of the appropriateness o f the content that is flooding the public,” said Jeffries, who formerly worked as an assistant general counsel at CBS and a lawyer at Viacom before he was elected last year.
A spokesperson for DiNapoli, who manages the pension fund, said that the comptroller “is concerned about this issue and is intending to contact [Universal] and urge them to halt the release of the album.
Earlier this year, The New York City Council voted to ban the use of the word “n*****”.
“The [Council made] an important symbolic step, but I’m more interested in the substantive approach of reviewing the multi-billion-dollar investment that the New York State pension fund makes in the entertainment industry,” said Jeffries.
Universal did not repsond to a request for comment.
n***** is slated for release on December 11th.
http://www.themostaccess.com/2007/10/25/un...ose-84-million/