It was one of the more quiet weeks on the charts in some time.
With no new additions coming from 2013 Hip Hop releases, Kid Ink’sAlmost Home EP fell 48 spots in its second week at digital retail. Still in the Top 75, the RCA Records-backed Los Angeles, California emcee is breathing down the 20,000-sold benchmark with his second retail effort in as many years.
Def Jam Records singer, producer and Grammy Award-winning songwriter The-Dream’s latest album IV Play fell 24 spots of its own. The label veteran enlisted Jay-Z and Beyonce and a plethora of G.O.O.D. Music talent for his fifth studio LP.
will.i.am’s #willpower Lives Up To Its Name On The Charts
After seven weeks, Los Angeles, California mainstay producer/emcee will.i.am’s fourth solo album #willpower is still going strong. A long departure from the Black Eyed Peas’ front-man’s first solo effort, 2001’s Lost Change on BBE Records, #willpower is a Dance album, featuring Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. The Interscope Records project is will’s first since the Peas went on hiatus over two years ago.
AD LOADING...
However, will’s partner dating back to the Ruthless Records/Atban Klann days, apl.de.ap, did reunite with his B.E.P. homie on “Gettin’ Dumb.” This effort out-lasted will’s longtime West Coast peer Snoop Lion (f/k/a Snoop Dogg), who released Reincarnated the same day as #willpower.
This album contains gold single “thatPower” and #1 record “Scream & Shout.”
The Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill Never Expires
In a quiet week for new releases, the Beastie Boys remind the charts why they are a true Hip Hop classic. Following Rolling Stone magazine listing it “the best debut album of all-time,” 1986’s Licensed To Ill shot back into the Top 200 for the second time in three weeks.
AD LOADING...
The album remains a critical seller for Def Jam Records, with Russell Simmons claiming the album’s sales supported the label in the early 1990s, through commercial challenges. The first album by Mike D, Ad-Rock and the late MCA was also their only effort on the label. Producer Rick Rubin, who is currently at work with Kanye West on Yeezus, laced the album with samples ranging from Led Zeppelin to Bob James to early Def Jam icon, T. La Rock.
Following L.T.I., the trio released seven addition studio albums, most recently 2011’s Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2. No subsequent effort has out-sold Licensed To Ill.
Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 6/9/2013
#2. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories – 62,000 (494,000)
AD LOADING...
#11. The Great Gatsby Soundtrack – 24,000 (347,000)
#12. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist– 22,000 (798,000)
#34. Lil Wayne – I Am Not A Human Being II– 11,000 (476,000)
#35. French Montana – Excuse My French – 11,000 (85,000)
AD LOADING...
#40. The-Dream – IV Play – 9,100 (32,000)
#51. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city – 8,100 (921,000)
#75. Kid Ink – Almost Home EP – 5,300 (20,000)
#123. will.i.am – #willpower – 3,300 (58,000)
AD LOADING...
#166. Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill – 2,600 (5,749,000)
* 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.
Will Action Bronson & Harry Fraud’sSaab Stories and Prodigy & Alchemist’sAlbert Einsteinsmoke up the charts before all hell breaks loose?
AD LOADING...
RELATED:will.i.am: I AM Hip Hop…YOU Aren’t! [2007 INTERVIEW]
