Top Selling Rap Albums of the Week (28/01/19)

Below are the top selling rap albums of the week...


1.  Future- Future HNDRXX Presents: The Wizrd- 125, 251 (125, 251)

2.  A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie- Hoodie Szn- 50, 029

3.  221 Savage- I AM > I WAS- 37, 464

4.  Post Malone- Beerbongs and Bentleys- 36, 277

5.  Meek Mill- Chiampionships- 34, 833

6.  Travis Scott- Astroworld- 34, 621

7.  Drake- Scorpion- 32,441

8.  Kodak Black- Dying to Live- 31, 031

9.  XXXTENTATION- ?- 25, 962

Did Rick Ross Over-saturate the Music Scene with His Music?

So...Do you think Rick Ross over-saturated the music scene with his music in the last couple of years? I think so. And it was a big mistake. In the last 21 months, he has released three albums, and one mixtape. I think that's just too much music for that that short a period. That is like releasing four albums in two years, cos really, his Black Dollar mixtape was like an album (most of his mixtapes are like albums). Oh, yea, I almost forgot he also released a mixtape titled Renzel last month, filled with his remixes of other people's songs. The mixtape was a double disk, and had 26 songs on it...Come on! That's taking it too far.

Tupac Once Recorded 13 Tracks in 4 Days

Yes, he said it himself in a rare interview he did after getting out of jail in 1995. Asides from recording the whole Don Killuminati album in 7 days, he actually recorded 13 tracks off his double CD album, All Eyez On Me in 4 days. This was done the days following his release from prison back in 95. In the interview with L.A Times's Chuck Philips, he spoke on how he went straight to the studio the very next day after he got out. Read his words below. 




“I been in the studio since the day after I got out. I got out Thursday, I been in here since Friday. About twelve hours a day. Up until they kick me out. It be dark and everybody gotta go to sleep, people be passing out, so I’m like, ‘Okay, I guess we gotta go home now.’ So then we go home, come back early in the morning, and do it again. I think we broke a record this time for any recording. I’m trying to do my album in less than a week so I can call my album 7 Days. But if I change the title I might do a couple more songs.” (L.A Times Interview)


He didn't achieve that with All Eyez On Me which ended up having 27 tracks, but he achieved his task of a 7 day album recording with his next album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. During the course of the interview, he spoke more on the recording session of All Eyez On Me. 


“We did thirteen tracks in four days. Thirteen fat tracks. The one’s that’s really gonna be humdingers, the big ones, ‘2 Of Amerikaz Most Wated' with me and Snoop. That’s gonna be a humdinger. ‘Shorty Wanna Be A Thug,’ that’s gon’ be a big one. And ‘Wonder Why They Call You Bitch’ with Faith. That’s gon’ be a big one. ‘Picture Me Rollin’.’ It’s just gon’ be fat. It’s different than any other album I came with so far. This one might throw a lot of people off ‘cause I just blacked out.” (L.A Times Interview)


Tupac was definitely one of the hardest working rappers in Hip Hop history. I guess his work ethic was the reason seven posthumous albums were released after his death. It is almost like he was recordin a song every day after he got out of jail in 95.

T.I Says few Rappers Have the Longevity He Has in Hip Hop

T.I is promoting his upcoming 9th album, Paperwork: The Motion Picture, which is set to drop before the end of the year. and because of this, he has been doing a lot of interview. While discussing on his upcoming album during his stop at New York's Hot 97 radio a couple of days ago, he spoke on his longevity in the rap game.




"Now this is my ninth project and for one, I just wanna thank everybody who’s been in support of me and even the people who been hating because you motivated me. I wanna thank you guys, man, cause I don’t know anybody or many people around right now who on they ninth album and still relevant. It’s not many…The world has never seen anything like me. Like you’ve never seen this before…In a career of longevity there are going to be points when you are on fire. You know what I’m saying? Top of the world. Nobody can touch you. This that and the other. Then they’re going to be points where you take a hit. In those points where you take a hit will you be able to recover, bounce back, and return to the flame? The flame has returned.”




True men! Very few people make it above the 5th album before falling off, or living rap completely. Hell, even Eminem doesn't have 9 album. It's few rappers like Snoop, Jay Z, and Nas that have made it to that 10th album mark, and still have some relevance in Hip Hop.

Big K.R.I.T Reflects on All His Projects

Up until I read this interview of Big K.R.I.T, i never knew he had put out so much work. Of cos he has just one album out (and is about to drop another), but he sure has a nice catalog of mixtapes. In his recent interview with NahRight, the Mississippi rapper reflects on all the projects (album and mixtapes) he has put out, and speaks on why each one is special in its on way.

"K.R.I.T. Wuz Here was my favorite mixtape in the sense of my hunger, because it was like, 'This is either going to work or we’re going back home. And that’s why it had so many songs on it, so many different sounds. It had a West Coast feel, the 93 ’til Infinity chop in it with me and Curren$y, and it was all that only for a project. I would say Return of 4Eva was musically my favorite one based off of how I sampled, what I sampled, the amount of singing, and the subject matter, from 'Free My Soul' to 'Another Naive Individual Glorifying Greed and Encouraging Racism. 4EvaNaDay was my most scientific one. I was very proud of that project, because I was able to not stay in the typical lane of making music, but to actually try to make a storybook in itself. And, make every song go together, from what time of day you should play it and how that time of day feels in the warmth of the music and the color hues, and even how I’m rapping and what I’m rapping about. Live From The Underground is a milestone forever because it’s my first album and I produced it all, man. So I could never downplay that. It has its own position in my career because it definitely did a lot more numbers than people expected it to do, and it gave people what I told them I was going to do, which was never leave the underground, and rap about what I want to rap about. 'I’ll feature the people I want to feature,' and that’s what I did. People may not have expected what it was compared to my mixtapes and [may not] feel it lived up to them, but me knowing what I went through to put it out, and then some of the songs on there. Like, the record with B.B. King will stand the test of time. King Remembered In Time is its own entity. That’s me coming back from the album and tour like, 'Hey, let’s do this.' And now we here, man. And with Cadillactica, it’s going to be its own monster. And I think people are going to be able to tell with every song."

Sales of All Busta Rhymes Albums

I like doing posts like this, cos new hip hop listeners don't seem to know that this old heads have a legacy. You have to know that Busta Rhymes has up to three platinum selling rap albums under his belt. So, here we go...check out the list of all Busta's albums, and what they sold, starting off with 1996's The Coming album.

The Coming (1996) 797,000

When Disaster Strikes… (1997) 1,677,000

Extinction Level Event - The Final World Front Elektra (1998) 1,648,000

Anarchy (2000) 684,000

Genesis (2001) 1,339,000

It Ain’t Safe No More… (2002) 678,000

The Big Bang (2006) 626,000

Back On My B.S. (2009) 156,000

Jadakiss Speaks On Album Delay

Jadakiss dropped his last solo album, The Last Kiss in 2009. After the unexpected success of the album (it sold over 400,000 copies with little promo), he believed he would drop a follow-up to the album the following year, but Def Jam didn't have the same vision as he did. They preferred to focus on the new artist on the label, and keep budgets sealed on the older rappers. And three years down the line, Jada still doesn't have a set release date for his fourth studio album- Top 5, Dead Or Alive.




In a recent interview over at New York radio station (Hot 97) , when he was asked about his next project, he said...





"Me, I'm always sitting on an album though. We're always sitting on material. My situation over there at Def Jam is a different [complication]. Def Jam is different right now. I ain't just speaking for myself. You can ask Fab, you can ask Jeezy, Ross, you can ask Kanye, anybody. So it got to be right and it got to feel right. Until then, I'm just doing [my thing]. They got this new thing where it's like you're auditioning. I got a whole album. See, with that, it's a lot of stuff people won't ever heard. Pecas has been to the studio, he's been up there, before [former Def Jam head] Joie left, he been up there. He knows what it is. But I don't know what's going on. I ain't tripping, I'm just working. That's all we do, make music. ... Who don't want to put their album out? I'm just not gonna pass it to you like it's nothing. It's not going to be a filler or a quota." (Hot 97)

Jay Z Ranks His Albums From Best To Worst

Jay Z show has a lengthy discography, and two days ago, on his 44th birthday, he took to his website (lifeandtimes.com) and ranked his albums from best to worst. He dropped his first album (Reasonable Doubt) in 1996 and dropped his twelfth album (Magna Carta Holy Grail) this year...that is 17 years of consistently releasing albums. Check out his ranking below-

"1. Reasonable Doubt (Classic) 
2. The Blueprint (Classic) 
3. The Black Album (Classic) 
4. Vol. 2 (Classic) 
5. American Gangster (4 1/2, cohesive) 
6. Magna Carta (Fuckwit, Tom Ford, Oceans, Beach, On the Run, Grail) 
7. Vol. 1 (Sunshine kills this album…fuck… Streets, Where I’m from, You Must Love Me…) 
8. BP3 (Sorry critics, it’s good. Empire (Gave Frank a run for his money)) 
9. Dynasty (Intro alone…) 
10. Vol. 3 (Pimp C verse alone… oh, So Ghetto) 
11. BP2 (Too many songs. Fucking Guru and Hip Hop, ha) 
12. Kingdom Come (First game back, don’t shoot me)"







What do you think of his ranking? Personally, from having listened to all his albums, I have some reservations. I think The Blueprint 3 should be up where American Gangster is, and American Gangster needs to be further down the list. I got that album when it dropped back in 2007, and I just didn't get any spark from listening to it. It is a 3.5/5 album to me. And I also think...matter of fact, I don't think, I authoritatively say The Blueprint is better than Reasonable Doubt, and should have that number one spot. People rank Reasonable Doubt higher cos it was his first. I ain't saying it wasn't dope, it was/is a super dope album, but The Blueprint is better. The problem people have with ranking Blueprint higher is the same as that of people not wanting to put Stillmatic over Illmatic.



And for Vol. 2; the album just gets a lot of of credit because it is Jay's best selling (over 5 million copies sold) album to date, and it had that Annie song that blow up his career. The album had some great songs, but it had too many features, and it definitely wasn't cohesive. It was Just like a compilation album or something. If you are a real lover of hip hop music, and not just a 'bandwagon' type of dude, you will agree with me on this. Anyway, every other placement on the list is somewhat accurate.

J.Cole Gives Reason For Going Against Kanye West

Just a couple of days after Kanye West announced that his album (Yeezus) would be released on June 18th, J.Cole moved the release date of his album a week early to go face-off with Kanye. "Born Sinner" was meant to be released on the 25th of June, but you can read up on Cole's reason for making this quick decision below-




Instantly the lightbulb [turned on]... it got real. I made one phone call to somebody that would know, just to make sure first. As soon as I got it confirmed, I was like, 'Yo...' The idea hit me instantly: 'You got to go to that date. I'm not going to sit [here]... I worked too hard to come a week later after Kanye West drops an amazing album. It'd be like, 'Oh and J.Cole dropped too, a week later.' Nah. I'm going to go see him on that date. He's the greatest. So it's like, I'm a competitor by nature so it was instant, it wasn't even a thought," the Roc Nation artist continued. (Billboard)




It does make sense. I love stuff like this...it makes things interesting in the hip hop world. And by the way, the both of them are most definitely releasing two of the dopest hip hop albums of the year. I can't wait.

Vibe's The Greatest 50 Albums Since 93

A lot of magazine's from the 90s are re-inventing themselves and gaining more online presence. In a recent post, Vibe put up a list of what they consider The Greatest 50 Albums since 1993...Check out the juicy list below-

 

50. Musiq Soulchild- Aijuswanaseing (2000)

49. Alicia Keys- Songs In A Minor (2001)

48. Green Day- American Idiot (2004)

47. Donell Jones- Where I Wanna Be (1999)

46. Young Jeezy- The Recession (2008)

45. Miguel- Kaleidoscope Dream (2012)

44. Common- BE- (2005) 

43. Adele- 21 (2011)

42. Jamiroquai- Travelling Without Moving (1996)

41. Beyonce- B'Day (2006)

40. 112- 112 (1996)

39. John Mayer- CONTINUUM (2006)

38. Jill Scott- Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 (2000)

37. Faith Evans- Faith (1995)

36. R.Kelly- R.Kelly (1995)

35. Kings Of Leon- Only By The Night (2008)

34. Jay Z- The Black Album (2003)

33. Amy Winehouse- Back To Black (2006)

32. Lil Kim- Hard Core (1996)

31. Toni Braxton- Toni Braxton (1993)

30. 2Pac (As Makaveli)- The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)

29. Erykah Badu- Baduizm (1997)

28. Radiohead- Kid A (2000)

27. 50 Cent- Get Rich Or Die Trying (2003)

26. Mobb Deep- The Infamous (1995)

25. Jay Z and Kanye West- Watch The Throne (2011)

24. Mariah Carey- The Emancipation Of Mimi (2005)

23. Dr. Dre- Chronic 2001 (1999)

22. Janet Jackson- Janet (1993)

21. A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders (1993)

20. OutKast- Aquemini (1998)

19. Kendrick Lamar- "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" (2012)

18. Jay Z- Reasonable Doubt (1996)

17. Eminem- The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

16. Kanye West- Late Registration (2005)

15. Maxwell- Urnban Hang Suite (1996)

14. Wu-Tang Clan Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)

13. The Notorious B.I.G- Ready To Die (1994)

12. Snoop Doggy Dogg- DOGGYSTLE (1993)

11. Raekwon- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (1995)

10. Usher- Confessions (2004)

9.  Lauryn Hill- The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (1998)

8.  Jay Z- The Blueprint (2001)

7.  R.Kelly- TP-2.COM (2000)

6.  Kanye West- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

5.  Justin Timberlake- FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS (2006)

4.  Mary J. Blige- My Life (1995)

3.  Nas- Illmatic (1994)

2.  D'Angelo- Brown Sugar (1995)

1.  The Notorious B.I.G- Life After Death

List Of Top 21 Best Selling Albums Since 1991

Soundscan started tracking album sales in 1991, and since then, only 20 albums had gone Diamond (selling over 10 million copies), until Adele joined the team, and became the 21st on the list recently, with her "21" album. Aint that funny? I mean the name of her album coinciding with her number on the list. Anyway, check out the list below-

Artist, Title (Year of Release), Sales to Date, Time to 10 Million

1. Metallica, Metallica (1991), 15.83 million, 337 weeks
2. Shania Twain, Come On Over (1997), 15.52 million, 96 weeks
3. Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill (1995), 14.80 million, 66 weeks
4. Backstreet Boys, Millennium (1999), 12.20 million, 39 weeks
5. The Beatles, 1 (2000), 12.11 million, 227 weeks
6. Whitney Houston/Soundtrack, The Bodyguard (1992), 12.05 million, 72 weeks
7. Santana, Supernatural (1999), 11.73 million, 60 weeks
8. Creed, Human Clay (1999), 11.62 million, 93 weeks
9. Bob Marley & the Wailers, Legend (1984), 11.17 million**, 18 years
10. *NSYNC, No Strings Attached (2000), 11.13 million, 43 weeks
11. Norah Jones, Come Away With Me (2002), 10.88 million, 259 weeks
12. Celine Dion, Falling Into You (1996), 10.80 million, 160 weeks
13. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), 10.65 million, 343 weeks
14. Britney Spears, . . . Baby One More Time (1999), 10.57 million, 106 weeks
15. Hootie & the Blowfish, Cracked Rear View (1994), 10.28 million, 442 weeks
16. Soundtrack, Titanic (1997), 10.17 million, 263 weeks
17. Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys (1997), 10.13 million, 226 weeks
18. Eminem, The Eminem Show (2002), 10.12 million, 489 weeks
19. Usher, Confessions (2004), 10.04 million, 433 weeks
20. Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory (2000), 10.03 million, 617 weeks
21. Adele, 21 (2011), 10.02 million, 92 weeks 

Big ups to Eminem for representing for Hip-Hop, and appearing twice on the list. I think the dude is really a phenomenon. 

Rap Albums on Billboard Chart

Nicki Minaj still holds the title of the highest selling rapper on the billboard chart this week, with her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, which sold 81,000 copies this week. Nicki's sophomore is now at a two week total of 335,000.









Christian rapper, Trip Lee is welcomed on the chart this week with his 4th album; The Good Life. The album sold 22,000 copies in its first week. To me, considering the niche he is in, i think that is a huge success.


Drake is at a total of 1,683,000 copies sold so far of his Take Care album, with 14,000 copies sold this week. There is nothing stopping this album from going double platinum and beyond. I predicted this even before the album dropped. Regardless of what people think of it, i consider it a great album.




I guess YMCMB really are running things. Tyga's Careless World: Rise of The Last King is up next, selling 10,000 copies this week, to now total at 191,000. Young Jeezy's TM103 album sold 7,800 copies this week, and is now at a total of 560,000.


1,412,000 copies of Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne album has been sold till date, with 5,400 copies sold this week. This album might not go double platinum, but i consider it one of the greatest hiphop albums to drop in a while.


J.Cole's Cole World album is still waxing strong on the chart, with 4,300 copies sold this week, it now stands at a grand total of 601,000. Diggy's Unexpected Arrival debut album sold 3,400 copies this week, and is now at a total of 43,000 copies so far.


E-40s Block Brochure, Volume 2 sold 2,000 copies this week, to now total at 13,000.