"The pragmatist wonders: Does a band with this profane a name even hope to be successful? The question applies to a glut of acts with similarly FCC-unfriendly names like Holy Fuck, the Fuck Buttons, the Fucking Ocean, Shit Robot, Shitdisco, Holy Shit, and Psychedelic Horseshit, all of whom have released very good records in the past two years, and some of whom are aptly named. At least two bands lay claim to one of the great movie band names, the profanely sacrilegious Shitty Beatles. (The movie is Wayne's World.) These names aren't controversial, per se, and few of these artists traffic in sounds that should truly offend. But they do raise a question: Does it matter anymore what you call yourself if you no longer rely on regulated forms of broadcast or mainstream media to get your name out there?"

Good question. So let's ask one of the music industry's most prolific troublemakers.

The rapper Nas, real name Nasir Jones, didn't give himself an unprintable stage name. But he did title his latest album a word most people get uncomfortable with whether they're reading, writing, speaking, or hearing it aloud: Nigger.

Slate, which posed the original question, tries answering it in this roundabout way:

It is yet another sign of the weakening of traditional forms of broadcast and media that there are so many more points of contact between artists and consumers free from regulation. It no longer matters if a major magazine, newspaper, or radio station—prudes compared with the free expanse of the Internet—promotes a modest-sized band with a review. It only matters if those bands possess the know-how to construct a blog, a MySpace page, or a Web site—and somehow get an audience.

This isn't to say that our mainstream cultural outlets should begin dropping f-bombs. But maybe our vigilance with regard to dirty words is misplaced—it distracts from what truly disturb us. Profanity reminds us of our capacity to be shocked, even if our sensitivity to language has dulled over time.

Well, to a fault. While we might have desensitized ourselves to music acts with the word "fuck" in their title, Nas' album shows how we're not yet comfortable with all slurs: Originally titled Nigger, Nas' record label Def Jam realized it would be a hard sell to get music stores to put the record up front, or online stores to put it on the homepage, where sales are generated. The record has since been retitled, simply, Nas, which is how it will be named when it arrives July 1.