There was a new #1 album this week, but not in Hip Hop. Vampire Weekend’s Vampires In The City grabbed the top spot, selling just under 135,000 copies. One of the LP’s video singles, “Step,” interpolates a rare demo recording by Souls Of Mischief, “Step To My Girl.” The early ’90s tune would later surface formally on the Hiero Oldies Volume 1 compilation.
On the Hip Hop side, the key addition was Eve’sLip Lock. The former Ruff Ryders’ “first lady” and longtime Dr. Dre affiliate returned with her first album in 11 years. In the hiatus, Eve appeared in films including Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, The Woodsman, and the Barbershop series. Eve’s fourth LP scored a Top 50 debut.
Eve Has Her Critics In Lip Lock
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania emcee-turned-actress Eve has built a career out of patience. One of Dr. Dre’s first artists on Aftermath Entertainment in the late 1990s, Eve patiently waited until Interscope Records suggested her move to another one of their subsidiaries, Ruff Ryders Entertainment. There, Eve would release three albums between 1999 and 2002. This included her multi-platinum debut, Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders First Lady, and two other Top 10 efforts.
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Eleven years removed from an album, Eve’s Lip Lock appeared on her new label, From The Rib. The Sony Red-distributed album featured involvement from Swizz Beatz on “Mama In The Kitchen.”Snoop Lion, Pusha T and Juicy J are among vocal guests on the 39-minute effort. Although receiving some blunt criticism in reviews, the album sold over 8,500 first-week units independently.
Mike Stud Provides Relief To The Charts
Rhode Island native Mike Stud may have first had fans as a Relief Pitcher at Duke University. However, the athlete-turned-rapper is the latest indie sensation. In his second week on the charts, Stud gained 50 spots to nearly reach the Top 50. His self-released debut, Relief, following a series of mixtapes, has now sold approximately 12,000 units. His collaborators include Kinetics, who has worked on “Airplanes” by B.o.B., in addition to work with Remedy, R.A. The Rugged Man and Termanology.
Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 5/19/2013
#4. The Great Gatsby Soundtrack – 95,000 (232,000)
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#11. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist– 26,000 (729,000)
#21. Lil Wayne – I Am Not A Human Being II– 15,000 (438,000)
#40. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city – 9,300 (896,000)
#46. Eve – Lip Lock – 8,500 (8,600)
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#55. Mike Stud – Relief – 7,600 (12,000)
#112. Talib Kweli – Prisoner Of Conscious – 3,600 (14,000)
#120. LL Cool J – Authentic – 3,400 (23,000)
#145. Snoop Lion – Reincarnated – 2,900 (38,000)
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#190. Rittz – The Life & Times Of Jonny Valiant – 2,300 (19,000)
* data comes from Nielsen Soundscan, rounded to nearest thousandth for units above 10,000, nearest hundredth for units below 10,000. Each week, HipHopDX presents top albums in Hip Hop/related, and five notables.
Can French Montana’sExcuse My French grab a #1?
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