One of the benefits of being the “it” guy in the social consciousness, is that your able to experiment in the public eye & not seem like your going left. Justin Timberlake has been this fortunate for the last decade plus. He’s delved into the film world successfully with movies like The Social Network & In Time. But one not to forget where his bread is buttered, JT is back with his 3rd solo studio album, The 20/20 Experience.
She is riding the “it” wave GoJu Nation. Rihanna has her seventh studio album ready for you. AND “Unapologetic” is the appropriate title for this opus. For an eight year career that’s pretty prolific. That part of the game she and her label (Def Jam) have fully figured out. Enough artists aren’t aware of what their presence represents to pop culture, therefore their timing is askew. Which over time becomes a slippery slope for the millennial A.D.D. generation. But Ri-Ri doesn’t have that issue. A wild child persona combined with her lightning rod social network status and people you are looking at what a current super-star is. Has she made another album to validate that? Let’s take a look.
Real quick: what is the greatest selling rap album of all times?
We’ll get to the answer and why in a few minutes, but first…
What we are told from the outside looking in and what insiders know about album sales and who/what drives, them are two very different things. Let’s start by exploring some of the biggest misunderstandings in urban music:
SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP is a feature-length performance documentary film about the runaway juggernaut that is Rap music. At the wheel of this unstoppable beast is the film’s director and interviewer Ice-T. Ice-T takes us on a deeply personal journey to uncover how this music of the street has grown to dominate the world. Along the way Ice-T meets some of the remarkable superstars of Rap, from Eminem to Dr. Dre, to Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. He exposes the roots and history of Rap and then, through meeting most of its most famous protagonists studies the living mechanism of the music to reveal The Art Of Rap.
Courtesy of IMDB
Here we go GoJu Nation. Another week, another chart listing for the people. Its been an interesting couple of weeks since the Grammy’s. With the passing of Whitney Houston creating a purchase frenzy, with new artists getting their say so along with the established ones making sure they aren’t forgotten in today’s landscape, it has created an interesting mix of albums making their mark. The most important thing that I take from this weeks listing is that demographic pockets of fans exist that seemingly follow artists in a way that mainstream has yet to quantify. What that creates is projects like WZRD audibly popping out of nowhere to make a serious dent on da charts. Well that’s the beginning, lets see what else da charts have to offer…
Wondering what effect The Grammy’s have on sales GoJu Nation? The year of Adele is a wonderful case study. The UK superstar had an over 200% bump in sales last week as a result of her Grammy sweep. Record companies already invest a significant part of their marketing budget for the award season. But now they will re-double their efforts after seeing results like this (fyi.com.. I’m still tight that Katy Perry didn’t win anything that night). Especially if you can win one of the big 3 (song, record or album of the year). And before we get into da actual chart, lets remember GoJu Nation, The Grammy’s is an awards ceremony celebrating all genre’s of music. This isn’t a Summer Jam or Jingle Ball where you’re looking for a 3 hour concert. So to all the Soc-Net beasts who are emotionally throwing their immediate opinions around.. think before you press post.
We bring you #4 on Ras Benzo’s list of what you should not be doing in 2012.
4. Starting a beef with people WAY more famous than you
There was a time in urban music when the playing field was a lot more even; a time when labels, artists and their fans worked together to make a way for the genre. It used to be that if you wanted to get some attention and make a name, you could pick a target and start some beef! Remember when Lolita Gooden made a name for herself when she dissed those four dudes who cancelled their appearance at a show? No. you don’t. But you do remember Roxanne Shante! It was the start of her career and the moment that rappers realized they could make a name for themselves by taking shots at people more famous than them.
Here we are GoJu Nation… I was on the road this time last week so I wasn’t able to get to da charts. I have remedied that this week. And with the Grammy’s this weekend I want GoJu Nation to pay close attention the next couple of weeks. Because this is one of those periods where the charts can spike sales wise. So take a strong look at the numbers and see if your favorite album gets a major boost based on this Sunday’s award show…. FYI.com for the record if Adele doesn’t win song & record of the year, I’ll believe the awards are officially rigged. Now let’s delve into this week’s listings…
Now we pick up the pace GoJu Nation… The end of the week brings us da digi-singles chart. Only Glee Cast with their latest (which will be a common occurrence until the TV season ends) breaks through on da chart this week. Your gonna have to bring it to break through on this list. Lets give you some perspective. The number 10 single on this chart has more sales than the number 1 album in da country this week. Now understandably it is a smaller investment to buy the singles. But still, the overall consumption of digi-singles is starting to dwarf da album charts. Let’s dive in and take a deeper look.
Yes GoJu Nation we have da album charts… And yes GoJu Nation things overall from a sales perspective are still declining. The number 1 album in the country? Only 95k this week.. The number 20 album in the country? 12.2k this week…. It’s like a cemetery at night, all bones and no meat. I feel like a jerk proclaiming earlier this year that this chart may be experiencing a renaissance. At this rate I’ll be writing this charts obituary if this doesn’t change. I predict that at this pace in the next 3 to 5 yrs albums will fall the way of the vinyl album. They will still make them but only the cream of the crop will be available. Let’s see if we can find something positive to report this week.
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