It’s
a cold, sparse week out there for Hip Hop.
There are only three acts representing Hip Hop in the top 50 with two of
them in the top ten. Jay-Z drops from
three to four selling 41,000 copies of his latest disc The Blueprint 3. The Black
Eyed Peas fall a spot from five to six with their smash album The E.N.D. The group moves another 34,000 copies. Meanwhile, Drake is beyond the top ten but
still manages to grab the 23rd spot selling 17,000 copies of his mixtape-released-as-a-album
So Far Gone.
Some
solid albums have dropped over the past few weeks but haven’t come anywhere
near the top ten. The commenters below
usually say that Jay helped to clear out autotune but the question is what is
left? A lot of Hip Hop is being thrown
against the top ten’s wall but none of it appears to be sticking. Let’s see what happens in the upcoming weeks.
Dropping
This Week
First
up this week is another installment to the J. Dilla collection. This posthumous release by the late, great
Jay Dee entitled Dillanthology, vol. 3
features guest appearance by Madlib, Guilty Simpson, Black Thought, Common, and
D’Angelo. The production is, of course,
handled by Jay Dee as J. Dilla. Those
that are fans of Slum Village, J. Dilla, or Hip Hop in general should go out
and pick this one up.
Next up is the new face of Ruthless
Records. Newcomer Hopsin is an actor who
has appeared in Fame and That’s So Raven (If Drake can come from Degrassi then I guess this dude can come
from That’s So Raven) and now is
making his recording debut with the album Gazing
At The Moonlight
. I don’t know toomuch about him except the fact that he wears white contacts and his first
single is “Pans In The Kitchen.” We’ll
see if he’s going to be the one to bring Ruthless back.
Then
we come to the Rick Ross backed group Triple C’s (Carol City Cartel) with their
debut album Custom Cars & Cycles. The group is composed of Ross, Gunplay, and
Torch who have been rapping together for the last decade. Don’t know how this album is going to be
because you never know what you’re going to get when rappers bring their
friends into the booth. You never know….
Next
up is Brooklyn MC Sha Stimuli who is well known for releasing a themed mixtape
each month during the year 2008. He now
drops his debut album entitled My Soul To
Keep. The album feature Freeway,
Young Chris, Torae, and Bellringer with production by Just Blaze. If you have any doubts about him take a look
at one of the 12 mixtapes he released last year. This one should be sure to impress so pick it
up.
Next
we come to Canadian Hip Hop group Swollen members who release their fith full length
studio album Armed To The Teeth. The album features Tech N9ne, Saafir, Talib Kweli,
Everlast, and Glasses Malone to name a few.
This is the first album that the group has released in around three
years so fans should go out and pick this one up.
He
was one of the features on the previous album and now he returns with his 10th
studio album K.O.D (King of Darkness). Guest
features include Three 6 Mafia, Brotha Lynch Hung, King Gordy, Kutt Calhoun, Krizz Kaliko and Big Scoob. Fans of Tech N9ne and his Strange Music label
should not be disappointed by this latest release.
Last but not least is Houston MC
Z-Ro with his the second installment of his drug inspired trilogy. Cocaine
is the rapper’s 13th solo studio album and features the usual
Houston suspects. It comes on the heels
of the Z-Ro’s last release, Crack,
and before his next Heroin. He’s really going all out with the drug
theme.
That’s it for dropping. Go out and pick up an album.