Welcome back to Chartwatch where we look at the top 10 for the week and showcase a few new Hip Hop albums. Not too much is going on in the world of Hip-Hop this week. Flip through the reviews section and you’ll see that someone has actually heard Only Built for Cuban Linx II so we now have proof the album actually exist. Hopefully it will be released soon. That and the Slaughterhouse album should hold me over until Jay drops a new one. I know I said that The Game and Jay are going to have a lukewarm feud but apparently it might heat up. I like them both so it should make for a few good songs.
If you have been reading the charts for the last few weeks then you are probably familiar with Michael Jackson’s dominance in the top ten. Now, the Billboard charts do not include Jackson’s recent sales boost because for some reason there is a rule that albums older than two years don’t make the charts no matter what they sale. Well we include the actual sales here so don’t be confused if you see it different.
Jackson holds the first, fifth, and sixth spots with Number Ones, Thriller, and The Essential Michael Jackson.
All the parents can chime in on this next one. Who is Demi Lovato? She’s on Disney and has the number two album in the country, Here We Go Again. Is Disney growing these pop kids in a lab somewhere? This chick has two albums and this is the first I ever heard of her. I’ll just blame it on your kids and say, once again, they have to listen to something.
American Idol alum, Daughtry, follows the tween princess with his album Leave This Town at number three.
Maxwell grabs the number four spot with BLACKsummer’s night. His fourth studio album continues to hold on to the charts moving an impressive 75,000 copies over the week.
The Now compilation stays at the number seven with the newest installment Now 31. That is followed by the other Disney star, Hannah Montana. The Hannah Montana 3 soundtrack comes in at number eight.
I haven’t been too kind to this group over the past couple of months but despite my opinion they continue to sell. The Black Eyed Peas sell 53,000 copies of their latest studio album, The E.N.D, moving them up one spot to number nine.
Rounding out the top ten is another American Idol alum. The winner of the sixth season, Jordin Sparks, releases her second album, Battlefield, and claims the number ten spot.
That means Hip Hop is being represented in the top ten this week by The Black Eyed Peas. Well….wow. Let’s keep going until we get something else.
Eminem’s Relapse jumps up a spot to number 18 selling 25,000 copies over the week.
Twista was in “Dropping this Week” a couple of weeks ago and now holds spot 32, moving 16,000 copies of his new album Category F5.
Out of the top fifty albums in the country, 3 of them are Hip Hop. And out of those 3, one of them…is The Black Eyed Peas. Let’s move on to dropping this week.
Dropping This Week
This week we have a few “best of” albums so let’s#### them first. They are reissuing The Best of Busta Rhymes so if you don’t have a lot of his albums give this one a shot. It starts off with his Leaders of the New School days up to…Extinction Level Event (E.L.E)?!? Dudes had like five albums since then. I know it’s a reissue but come on. You know, even though this compilation cost six dollars it would probably be better to just go buy a couple of Busta albums (start with Extinction Level Event).
The next album in the reissue compilations category is by MC Lyte. The Very Best of MC Lyte has some of her greatest hits except….”Lyte As A Rock”?!? What is going on with the compilations? Granted this is not as bad as the Busta collection so if you’re a fan (or just not familiar with one of the original great female MC’s) then pick this one up.
Now the first up this week in the new releases is none other than Fabolous. The Brooklyn MC releases his studio album Loso’s Way. The album, themed after the 1993 crime drama Carlito’s Way, features Jeremih, Keri Hilson, The Dream, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo, Trey Songz, Ryan Leslie, and Marsha Ambrosius. That’s a lot of R&B artist for a rap cd but he’s had some good songs with Ne-Yo so maybe he found his formula. There is also a deluxe version of the album that comes out the same day with an attached DVD.
Next up, Los Angeles based independent label Stones Throw Records releases another one from Dudley Perkins. His fourth album Holy Smokes drops this week and if you like the independent sound coming out of Los Angeles then it is a must have. If you haven’t heard some of Dudley Perkins earlier works then just know that he has done a lot of work with producer and labelmate, Madlib. (Plus, his new album has one of those interesting artistic covers that I like so much.).
Staying in the vein of independent westcoast MC’s the next album is from Long Beach rapper Sareem Poems. Black and Read All Over features Georgia Anne Muldrow, Pigeon John, Akil of J5, Othello, Ragen Fykes, Propaganda, Stro, and Ohmega Watts. Now, I’ll be honest and say I have no idea who most of those guests are but I heard parts of the album and it sounds pretty good. If anyone is up on Sareem then let the rest of us know.
Now it’s time to test your memory! Remember J-Kwon? Anyone? Given Hip Hop’s short term memory staying out of the game for five years after the release of your debut is career suicide. Well, J Kwon released Hood Hop in 2004, followed by Hood Hop 2 in February of this year as a digital download, and now comes Hood Hop 2.5. Now I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Tipsy” but it sold well (real well). Plus the song “Hood Hop” off of the first disc had one of the hardest beats out. We’ll see if this album will refresh Hip Hop fans memory of J Kwon.
I’m only going to say a lil’ bit about our next artist Lil Atlanta a.k.a Lil A. He’s from the group TrillVille. He has a new album It’z Me. It has songs like “Real N#####”, “Money Ain’t a Thang”, and “3 Gunz” so I’m guessing the album is about…real n*&&@’s, money, and guns. You know, I’m probably being a little too hard on Lil Atlanta (Especially since I didn’t say anything about Fabolous’ gangster cinema inspired album). If you like the TrillVille sound then pick this album up.
Next up, Lord Infamous (original member and co-founder of Three 6 Mafia) joins with T-Rock and II Tone to release the album Blood Money. Lord Infamous has produced a pretty big body of work and has a strong regional following. Those that are fans of the sound coming from the Hypnotize Minds camp should be looking out for this one.
That wraps it up for this week. Some of these albums were selling for less than eight bucks so hit some of the stores and support an artist or two.