ChartWatch: Lil Wayne's Rebirth Is IT This Week

FDB BLACK CITY G'S                                  Welcome back to ChartWatch where we count down the top selling artists in Hip Hop for the week. Charts are sparse this week so…ummm….let’s see….
Lately it appears that Hip Hop can only get a few spots in the top ten so it’s not like there is a lot to write about. As we all know sales across the music industry are dismal. I thought about this as I watched this past week’s Grammy Awards, which was like watching a room full of employees knowing they are about to be laid off. (If you’ve never seen a business model gasping for its last breath then go walk into a Blockbuster Video. It’s like they’re giving away movies in there). Everyone in the industry sees the writing on the wall. The current model is going to fail. And what do you do when the company you work at is going to fail? Keep collecting your check while at the same time trying to steal whatever is not bolted down. (I know none of you would do that). But as Blockbuster falls it is replaced by Netflix, Tivo, Redbox, Hulu and countless others that are trying to reinvent the model. That’s why it’s good to see artist/producer/record label owner El-P (flip over to the main page to see the article) saying he’s not sure what to do with Def Jux…but he will be making music. Someone out there is going to figure out how to make this work. Until then we will keep getting throw away artists like Ke$ha (I promise this is the last time I hate on her).
This week my other favorite pop-rap group has the highest selling album. The Black Eyed Peas sells another 39,000 copies of The E.N.D and drops from the eight spot to the number ten position.
Then we move another 27 spots to the next top seller in Hip Hop, Jay-Z. This week the Marcy MC moves 14,300 copies of The Blueprint 3.
He is followed by Eminem whose Relapse album sells 14,200 copies and grabs the number forty spot.
Finally, Gucci Mane holds the forty eight spot seling 10,800 copies of his latest albumThe State vs. Radric Davis.

Dropping This Week

There’s really only one Hip Hop artist dropping an album this week and it’s not even Hip Hop. Lil Wayne finally drops his “rock” (and those are real STRONG quotations when calling this album rock) album Rebirth. The album has been delayed since 2009 and was accidentally released by Amazon late last year. I’ll hold back most of my judgmental views on this one until I truly get a chance to hear it. However, if you want to read about it I think most everyone on the internet has done a review. The album features Shanell, Eminem, Kevin Rudolf, and Nicki Minaj. Even though it’s Lil Wayne I’m not really sure how this one will do.
That’s it for the week. Hopefully some new albums will be dropping next week.