The neverending hype machine surrounding Nas' new album -- which has lasted for nearly a year now -- will subside when Def Jam releases it on July 15.

The big news is that after months of pressure from his record company and sundry self-styled activists, Nas finally caved in and removed its controversial title, Nigger. "Record stores are gonna have a problem in this day and time selling a record with that title," he told MTV.com. In a subsequent press statement, he tried to explain why he backed down: "I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. It's that important. The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it."

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time that Nas has turned into a coward. Back in 2002, Nas was scheduled to headline Hot 97's Summer Jam, thanks to the widespread belief that he "won" his famous battle against Jay-Z. (Or rather, Jay-Z "lost" by going too far with "Super Ugly.") Nas allegedly wanted to use a number of props celebrating his "victory," including a noose and an effigy of Jay-Z. But Hot 97 (WOHT-FM 97.1) wouldn't allow him to use the props. (Nas denied that he planned to use an effigy and a noose in his performance.)

Angrily, Nas canceled his appearance without an official explanation. He then gave an interview to Hot 97's rival, Power 105 (WWPR-FM 105.1), and alleged that many of Hot 97's top DJs, including Angie Martinez and Funkmaster Flex, took bribes from major labels in exchange for playing artists on their shows. "A whole evil empire funded by a bunch of other evil empires, Def Jam is one of them - that's giving [Hot 97] money to play all they artist records," Nas, who was signed to Columbia at the time, claimed during the interview.

However, by the end of 2002, Nas retracted his statements in order to promote his then-new album, God's Son, on Angie Martinez's highly-rated show. In his analysis of Nas' surprising shift, Entertainment Weekly Evan Serpick wrote, "It's a sad week for hip-hop. Tuesday morning, Nas, one of the most talented rappers and outspoken critics on earth, appeared on New York's Hot 97 radio station and completed his transformation into the biggest sell-out on the planet."

Since last fall, I've posted release dates for Cyne's new album Pretty Dark Things, only to see it delayed each time. In the last notice, I reported that the Gainesville, Fla. quartet signed with Northwest indie-rock label Hometapes (its previous home was German imprint City Centre Offices) and that the disc would arrive in May. Instead, it got pushed back -- again.

But it looks like Hometapes will finally release a digital version of Cyne's Pretty Dark Things on July 29 to iTunes, Amazon and other online outlets. A release date for the CD/vinyl version hasn't been announced. "Over the next few months we’ll be spilling out a pile of videos, remixes, and the like for you all to chew on," says a statement on Hometapes' website. "We couldn’t be happier to be working with them, and to say we are honored and humbled to have them as a branch on our family tree would be a massive understatement."

After a widely publicized digital "pay what you want" release last fall, the Fader Label will issue Saul Williams' third album, The Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, on July 8 in CD and vinyl formats. Despite some early standoffish reviews, and much online snickering after producer Trent Reznor announced that less than a quarter of the people who downloaded the album paid for it, the album has proven surprisingly durable. The poet-rapper-actor-musician got a further boost when "List of Demands (Reparations)," a track from his second self-titled album, was used in a Nike commercial. Accordingly, the new version of NiggyTardust features "List of Demands" and four more bonus cuts.

On his website, Williams writes:

The wall of sound that we've created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they'd find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways.

What is Interdependent Media? The Bay Area, Calif. label is relatively unknown on the music scene, but has already corraled two major artists in the urban underground: J*Davey and Tanya Morgan.

Interdependent Media was launched by Ian "ID" Davis, Evan "Truthlive" Phillips and Dominic del Bene last year. Ian "ID" Davis is a former employee at West Coast imprint Hiero Imperium. Meanwhile, Del Bene formerly owned Loud Minority Music, a label best known for issuing Tanya Morgan's acclaimed debut Moonlighting. But after distribution problems kept him from capitalizing on Moonlighting's critical acclaim, he formed a new company with ID and Truthlive.

Interdependent Media (also known as IM Culture) will make an impact this summer with several recordings. The first, Tanya Morgan's The Bridge EP, was serviced to iTunes last month. A CD version drops on June 17. "This EP, The Bridge, is a re-introduction to the group and serves as a 'bridge' between their previous works and their upcoming album, Brooklynati," reads a press release. No word on a Brooklynati release date, but it's schedule to drop later this year.

Next came a reissue of K'naan's The Dusty Foot Philosopher. Originally released in Canada in 2005, it won the 2006 Juno Award for Best Rap Album. The Interdependent Media re-release includes a DVD with videos. It hit stores on May 20. Then there's Fallen Awake from Santa Rosa, Calif. MC Shaya. His album is scheduled for July 22.

The big news, however, is that Interdependent Media will issue J*Davey's first nationally distributed album. Since signing with Warner Bros. in 2007, J*Davey (pictured above) has been lost in major label purgatory, even while the electro-soul movement they helped create grows from underground phenomenon to worldwide fad. Hopefully Jack Davey and Brook D'Leau will get a chance to put out some material on Warner Bros. before people get sick of that sound.

On October 30, Mush Records will release K-The-I???'s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, an album completely produced by L.A. beat vet Thavius Beck.

"After the man known as Kiki relocated from Cambridge to LA in '07, after 2 months of sweating in a hot ass room at the Mush house in the dead of summer, after another 2 months of waiting for verses from High Priest (aka Hprizm) and Big Jus (and after only getting one of them... but thats a story for another blog), the hard work has paid off," writes Thavius Beck in a MySpace post.

The elliptically-named K-The-I??? is a rapper of protean strength, and given to broken poetry that can be both powerfully moving and frustratingly cryptic. His 2006 debut, Broken Love Letter, drew respectable reviews and fans in like-minded avant-garde rappers, many of whom appear on Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. They include High Priest, Busdriver, Mestizo and Subtitle. Meanwhile, Thavius Beck, formerly known as Adlib and one-half of Lab Waste (along with Subtitle), has benefited from increased exposure for his work on Saul Williams' acclaimed The Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!

"Me and Thavius worked real hard on this record and put all are [sic] time, blood, sweat and tears into making this record sound fresh, brand new and creatively original," writes K-The-I??? on his MySpace page.

The track listing for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is below.