[They] play to win the game...
Debuting on the Hip-Hop Charts at No. 1 this week is Nas. With the lead single, "Hip-Hop is Dead," regulating the tri-state airwaves and hype for the Hov collabo, "Black Republicans," causing commotion throughout much of the hip-hop community, the Queensbridge legend has topped the competition this week by a long shot.
Tumbling seventeen slots to No. 18 is Young Jeezy. After debuting at No. 1 last week, the Def Jam recording artist has fallen hard but is still helping to keep the legendary record label on top for fourth quarter, bangin' it out with 184,900 discs sold. To date, Jeezy has surpassed the gold, moving 538,400 copies.
Making a come-up on the charts this week is Jay-Z, coming in at No. 27. The Brooklyn MC has made a five-step comeback on the charts, as the total for Kingdom Come sits tight at 1,145,900. Hova has scored 136,000 more discs this week, compared to last week's 86,700
As they say in football, "settle all arguments on the field"
posted by Wes at 2:10 PM
12 Comments:
OK, by your argument that sales = hotness, Vanilla Ice was the GOAT in his day and maybe top 5 dead or alive now still, LOL.
January 03, 2007 11:21 AM
not my argument brother. That is clearly the way of your champions. And they appear to be losing the battle.
Clearly it is the underground old farts who focus the least on sales. People with mouths full of gold and thousand dollar hoodies are the ones who worship the almight dollar, not I.
And I do recall Jay's 2nd week drop was the linchpin of your anti Jay argument. So when S Dot bounces back and Jeezy drops in week 2, that argument is no longer valid?
January 03, 2007 11:28 AM
Er no because Jay dropped 80% in his second week while Jeezy only dropped 48% which is less than normal. Besides Jeezy has now tumbled UPWARDS 13 spots to #5 while Jay is currently at #21 on the album chart.
The lynchpin of my argument was actually that so-called BRAT (Best rapper Alive Today) Jay delivered a subpar album that might not even make my Top 20 rap albums of 2006 while new cats like Wayne and Jim Jones have been delivering great records and have justifiably felt like they could call him out on his increasing wackness (last great verse = "Go Crazy" remix IMHO) and that they were as good as he is now. I still stand by that.
BTW Nas dropped 71% from 354K to 101K. That's a little worse than typical but still ok. So what does that say about how people felt about Jay when he dropped 600+k down to 100 and change?? Probably that people came out to buy his album and he got a better-than-average Xmas sales bump because of his name/brand value & recognition but it's mostly hype, my dude. He's dropping off and these new cats are coming up and gonna take over. It's the way of the world so why fight it? I just don't get why you're riding so hard against it.
January 03, 2007 4:09 PM
Ian, what is your definition of a great record? Wayne and Jim Jones have zero talent. Hov on his worse day can out rhyme those dudes, but I think I understand where your perspective comes from. My guess is that you are simply too young to know what an mc is, and haven't had the opportunity to experience a truly great record. Unfortunately, I think the industry and media dictates what you think is hot. I don't see how you can argue your points with a straight face...
January 05, 2007 3:17 PM
as I said before we shall see if this is indeed the way of the world.
January 05, 2007 3:24 PM
now I am mot in the business but can someone explain how can the rapper who sells lower numbers be more popular than the rapper with bigger sales.
My mans just put me on to this site so I am just getting up on this thread
January 05, 2007 3:31 PM
Anon, I'm not even gonna address a ridiculous comment like they have zero talent but I guarantee I am older than you and been in this hip hop ish and making a living from it from maybe before you were out of grade school, my dude.
3500 VINYL albums in my crib and a couple thousand hip hop CD's (plus a thousand more in other genres) says I 'm pretty sure I have every album you would consider classic from Ultramag and EPMD back in the day to Ghost and Outkast today.
Yeah Jim Jones can't hold a candle to Hov in his prime MC-wise, no argument here but Wayne is not out of his mind to call Jay out.
I'll say it again, bottom line: Dude made a subpar album after all the rah-rah about the big comeback, I don't give a f-ck what anyone says. These young guns got a right to call him out and go for the crown - that's the way of hip hop. Respect it or get out of it. All this talk of hip hop boards and other similar nonsense is straight-up gay and Hov's sounds like an asshole and hella weak for even spitting that BS. If Hov's that n-gga still he should have laid out Jim and buried him. He didn't though - why is that?
Of course Hov is bigger but he's falling off the same way other cats have fallen off in the past. It happens to the best of them: ask Run DMC, ATCQ, Kane, KRS One etc. It's gonna happen to Em, 50 and yes Jay too. All I'm saying is that half-ass KC album looks like the first evidence that Jay's prime has def. passed and if Wayne continues the way he has recently, when he drops Tha Carter III a lot of cats are gonna look real stupid. This kid is the truth.
BTW Wes, I had an argument with one of your colleagues on this a couple weeks back and he admitted he hadn't even listened to Wayne's music. But he's telling me which artist is better?!! C'mon....
January 05, 2007 5:37 PM
gay?
what is this junior high?
I have had about enough of this
January 05, 2007 8:56 PM
C'mon, Wes don't play coy now, you know the point I was making: actually supporting Hov in entertaining the idea of a "hip hop board" seriously, even as a theoretical, is ridiculous but if you're gonna pick that one word out of everything I said above to complain about, then I guess we are done. I've been making the same point over and over again anyway.
January 05, 2007 9:51 PM
Ian,I did disrespect you, and I apologize for that. However, I'm even more confused as to how you can feel the way that you do. How can you mention Ultramag and EPMD, and then turn around and say Wayne and Jim Jones have the right to challenge Hov? These dudes don't have the talent to challenge Hov. For you to be the Hip Hop connoisseur that you claim to be, and then turn around and act like Wayne and Jones is truth, tells me that you must be making money off of hip hop. You must be getting paid to support these dudes...
January 08, 2007 9:22 AM
Ian, how do you feel about Nas?
January 08, 2007 9:23 AM
I appreciate the apology. It ain't that deep but I had to let you know. I don't get paid off of either of those artists but I just feel like Hov's been slacking and any MC out there who feels like calling him on it should do so.
Now if its Joe Nobody MC who just threw up a MySpace page last week, that'd be one thing but Wayne is legitimately nice and been in the game at least a decade. Chk his verse on Outkast's "Hollywood Divorce", chk the new track "Millions" he just dropped, chk all the freestyles he's done recently and chk Tha Carter II. If you can't sincerely see that he's got talent as an MC after all that, I don't know what to say.
As for Jimmy, I'll concede that he's not as lyrically adept as Wayne so it's more hubris on his part to be attacking Hov, but you know what? He's three albums deep (solo) plus all his features on other Dipset projects. He may not be a starter or all-star (yet) but he's not the "9th man on the banch yelling 'UR a bum'" like Jay claimed on Hot 97 to Flex. I even started to play his new album again this weekend just to chk myself and make sure i'm not crazy. After doing that I'll declare that I stand by his right to go at Hov too still. His swag is crazy and his flow is not bad either. Before you outright dis him again, play the P.O.M.E. album all the way through and really listen to it. If you've done that and you honestly believe son is garbage and has no right to go at Hov OK, I give up and we'll have to agree to disagree.
Again though, I'll ask: if Hov is that nice, how come he couldn't lay out Jim and bury him with his "Brooklyn High" response record cos he definitely DIDN'T? I think it's because he's lost his bite and ain't that dude anymore and that's why cats like Wayne and Jim are gunning for him now. That's hip hop, especially when it's coming from cats who don't have the "right" or status to be going at Jay. Hip hop was built on the premise of making something out of nothing and standing up and declaring yourself to be somebody when nobody was listening or cared. The entire history of this music has been about bombing the establishment and taking over. Jim and Wayne are just the latest incarnation of that process and Jay has become the establishment. Nothing wrong with that but I'm not down with holding back that next wave of cats coming up which is what I feel a lot of cats who are offended by Wayne and Jim's words & actions are doing. Hey, I'm not even saying Jay has lost it permanently either so if this inspires him to get focused and make some good records I ain't gonna be mad.
To end though: I like the Nas album a lot. If Jay had made an album on that level, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
January 08, 2007 11:41 AM
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