Is the Hip Hop Industry Dirtier Than the Dope Game?

Universal Music Group has been told to change name of soon to be released Nas album "N*gger" or risk losing $84 million in state investments a Fort Greene assemblyman said this week.

“[They are] profiting from a racial slur that has been used to dehumanize people of color for centuries,” said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D–Fort Greene).

“It is time for Nas and other hip-hop artists to clean up their act and stop flooding the airwaves with the N-word.”

According to The Brooklyn Paper, Jefferies had called on Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to withdraw the $84 million the state had invested in Universal and its parent company Vivendi.

“It’s a staggering amount of money, which at least justifies a review of the appropriateness of the content that is flooding the public,” said Jeffries.

Also joining Jeffries in his efforts to have the album title changed are Clinton Miller, of Brown Memorial Baptist Church, and Jill Merritt, a founder of the Abolish the N-Word Project.

Universal didn't return calls for comments from The Brooklyn Paper. A spokesman for DiNapoli said the comptroller "is concerned about this issue and is intending to contact the company and urge them not to release the album.”

In February of this year the council past legislation urging people not to use the "N" word. Jeffries says he is determined to stop the release of the album.

“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.”