I won't get on the critic bandwagon and sh*t on Ye' just coz it's the 'in-thing' right now. I hate how people forget who you are & whatever you did if the world don't immediately take up your ideas. They tried it in 808s & Heartbreak but still he opened up with 450,145 albums sold. Being a creative I think most of the time art like this comes out, it's too ahead of it's time.
Like Rakim and Eric B wit Paid In Full. To this day I use that as inspiration to think outside the box. And how they were so ahead of their time. I think it was ever so popular in the 2000s than the '80s and 90s. I just love something new that even more so raises eyebrows of critics who don't believe we should be living in progress.
Even though, everyone has positive reviews for our fav lyricist J. Cole. I knew I'd love 'Born Sinner' as soon as I heard 'villuminati', I knew this was it. J was taking us back from where hip-hop came from. The track sounds as though it came together with just one take, and that got me good. It's the flow, the delivery, the storytelling ability that can only be compared with Slick Rick.
I on the other hand thought J had major balls going head to head with Ye', but he almost won with the single album numbers. I felt this was more like the now infamous Ye' & 50 competition in '07. Yeah fitty was in it for the hype and business but pride is a thing too big to assume in rap. They both opened pretty well with Kanye at 957,000 & 50 at 691,000 the first week.
Forgive me I like numbers but we all know they don't lie. Ye' won that one by a mile but in 50's words he "Laughed all the way to the bank" deservedly so. Born Sinner to me is soughta like graduation. Fvck how critics say people don't buy real music [read Hip-Hop], amma rant on that another day so back to the numbers.
In the week that was Kanye West supposedly made $3,920,730 off Yeezus. Let it go on record that all this was done without even the least bit official promotion. On this other side J. Cole made between $3,330,270 - $4,074,030 with Born Sinner.
Take away studio/label/production fees and you still have happy people in Ye' & J. Of course I think J/ Cole's inclusion of 'Truly Yours III' in the Deluxe version helped a million times more literally! Plus the Standard version already had 16 tracks (6 more than Yeezus), and we all know how these days people want value for their money.
Much than anything Ye' sold all that (his lowest opening lest we forget) coz it's.....KANYE WEST! The future look bleak for Yeezus as second week show it in third as Wale's 'The Gifted' (Which I'm still listening to) debuts at #1 with a little over 151,000 copies sold. Born Sinner rests easy at #2 with 83,000 sold with Yeezus solidly at #3 with 66,000copies sold by the end of the second week.
As a rapper I like to see 360 so find me crunching the numbers, even though that is secondary to the art that is my music. You gotta be over ya head for heading into music but we still did. To all the up & coming rappers like I, use your love for the music first then the business will roll-in later.
Karma's a b*tch on her p's so BUY THE MUSIC,
#1. Wale - The Gifted
#2. J. Cole - Born Sinner (Deluxe Edition)/Born Sinner (Standard Edition)
#3. Kanye West - Yeezus
#4. Mac Miller - Watching Movies With the Sound Off (Deluxe Edition)/(Standard Edition)
P.S
Apologies for being so quiet on Mac Miller as he also went through leaps & bounds as an independent artist to drop 'Watching Movies With the Sound Off'. Mad respect for the homie doing it independent and still selling so good. I been listening to eat and still can't believe it's a white boy with such lean beats and supa great flow. Mac got me feeling racist in this MOFO coz of the superb work.
Amma leave ya'll with my remix of Childish Gambino's Unnecessary aptly named Pimp's Holiday:
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