Rapper Nas is releasing a new album this December and its racial epithet-inspired title has already angered civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson and others.

Nas has confirmed that his forthcoming album will be titled “N-gger,” to be released December 11 via Def Jam.

As to the title, which has already stirred controversy, the rapper told MTV: “You ain't got no business worrying about what the word 'n*gger' is or acting like you know what my album is about without talking to me.”

“(People) shouldn't trip off the (album's) title; the songs are crazier than the title,” he said in an interview posted on MTV's Web site.

Among those incensed by the title is Rev Jesse Jackson, who released a statement saying: “The title using the 'N' word is morally offensive and socially distasteful. Nas has the right to degrade and denigrate in the name of free speech, but there is no honor in it.”

He added, “Radio and television stations have no obligation to play it and self-respecting people have no obligation to buy it. I wish he would use his talents to lift up and inspire, not degrade.”

There have also been reports that Def Jam is actually opposing the album’s title. Nas however told MTV that the label was OK with the title: “We're taking power from the word. No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil rights movement.

“Some ... in the streets don't know who (civil rights activist) Medgar Evers was ... they know who Nas is,” the rapper said, referring to the civil rights leader slain in the 1960s.

“And to my older people who don't know who Nas is and who don't know what a street disciple is, stay outta this (expletive) conversation. We'll talk to you when we're ready. Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power from that word,” the 34-year-old rapper added.

Billboard.com notes that “N-gger” will be the follow-up to 2006’s “Hip-Hop Is Dead,” Nas' Def Jam debut, which sold 743,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Nas married R&B singer Kelis in 2005, after a two-year engagement. Kelis is famous for her single “Caught out There,” addressed to a cheating boyfriend, with its notorious “I hate you so much right now” chorus.