Last week Alife hosted a private kick off in their small courtyard for Nas and his ninth album release, Untitled — a presumed defiant and reluctant change from the original title Nigger. But on a crazy back door, big money deal, it’s rumored that 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. The Reverend Jesse Jackson also chimed in with his disapproval of the title (insert feigned shock). But as Nas says, “the people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it.”

More photos from the Alife jumpy, as well as last weekend’s Three 6 Mafia courtyard party, at Village Slum, courtesy of the talented Mel D. Cole. 

Nas at the Alife courtyard: