Last week at the Grammy Awards Nas and his wife Kelis
hit the Red carpet wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the title
of his forthcoming album, ‘Nigger.’ Though Nas seems confident that his
controversial title will fly, Def Jam Chairman Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid is not so sure. When asked if the
new Nas album will be released with the n-word title, Reid replied
with, “We’ll have to see.”

According to Reid, the album, which was originally slated for a
December release will drop sometime this spring. “Hopefully we’ll get
it in April or May,” he said. “Something like that. Somewhere around there. It’s getting there, we’re getting close. Expect Nas to educate us without preaching to us. Expect him to give a point of view that maybe the world hasn’t thought
about. Expect him to really enlighten us.”

In addition to the highly anticipated release from the Nas, Reid is
looking forward to all of the Island Def Jam releases scheduled for
2008. “We have Mariah, we have Janet which comes out at the end of
February,” he says with enthusiasm. “We have a Ludacris album coming up. Lionel Richie, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross. We have a lot!”