Quentin Tarantino has come under fire in some sectors recently for the liberal use of a certain racial epithet in his epic, Oscar-nominated slavery western Django Unchained. But the filmmaker has a new defender from the hip hop community in Nas, who weighed in on the controversy recently with an argument that the use of the word in the film is justified.

"A movie about slavery and you don't hear the 'N' word? That doesn't make any sense," he said in an interview with MTV News. "I don't see what the big fuss is about."

Nas went on to defend Tarantino's credentials as an artist.

"It's a movie, and a movie by him? Why should we be surprised if the movie is raw?" he said. "He's one of the greatest filmmakers of our generation and we don't go there to see anything less than rawness."

Among critics of the movie is longtime Tarantino rival Spike Lee, who has said the he refuses to watch it.

Another rap icon, Luke Campbell, recently directed some harsh words at Lee in defense of the film.

"Lee needs to get over himself. He's upset because Tarantino makes better movies. The man who put Malcolm X on the big screen is Hollywood's resident house negro; a bougie activist who wants to tell his fellow white auteurs how they can and can't depict African-Americans," Campbell wrote in a fiery blog post for the Miami New Times.

Django won Tarantino a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay last weekend and the film is nominated for a slew of awards at next month's Oscars.

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(Photo: CPA, PacificCoastNews.com)