Hip Hop Album Sales: Joey Bada$$, Nicki Minaj, Lupe Fiasco

After two of the most-anticipated albums of the year thus far were released last Tuesday (January 20), the official Soundscan numbers are in and Joey Bada$$ has the best-selling Hip Hop album in the country. Meanwhile, Lupe Fiasco’s latest album broke into the Top 20 at #14 while Nicki Minaj held steady at #6.
Lower down the list, J. Cole fell out of the Top 10 for the first time since his album was released but brought his total sold count to 708,494 after selling another 22,501 units last week.

Joey Bada$$ Debuts At #5

Releasing his debut album on the same day that Lupe Fiasco’s Tetsuo & Youth and Lil Wayne’s Sorry 4 The Wait 2 dropped, Joey Bada$$ officially has the best-selling Hip Hop album on the Billboard 200. In the span of a single week, B4.Da.$$ clocked 53,990 sales and was streamed more than 3 million times. On top of the streams, Bada$$ sold more than 16,000 single songs from the record and his total album equivalency number reached 57,694 as a result.

Nicki Minaj Holds On At #6

For a second week in a row, Nicki Minaj’s Pinkprint album is at #6 on the charts with the latest numbers nearly replicating her performance last week. Minaj sold another 27,623 units this past week, bringing her total sold count up to 446,029 since the album’s release last month. If she keeps up with her current sales, Minaj is on pace to break the Gold album milestone in just under two weeks.

Lupe Fiasco At #14

While Lupe Fiasco’s latest album sold less than half the number of albums as his last release did in its first week on the shelves, the 39,281 copies of Tetsuo & Youth Lu pushed this past week were enough to help him into the Top 20 at #14. The album was also streamed 2,382,138 times which helped Lupe’s total activity number peak at 42,458.

Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Hip Hop & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 01/25/2015

Note: The first number below is this week’s “total album equivalent units” count, an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams implemented by Billboard's new rating system. A pure album sales figure is available in bold in parenthesis and information about each album's streaming count is available in brackets.
#5. Joey Bada$$ - B4.Da.$$ - 57,694 (53,990) [3,088,426]
#6. Nicki Minaj - Pinkprint - 53,580 (27,623) [11,825,903]
#10. Mark Ronson - Uptown Special - 48,582 (9,640) [6,312,689]
#14. Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth - 42,458 (39,281) [2,382,138]
#16. J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive - 31,997 (22,501) [8,148,716]
#24. Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife - 19,056 (7,842) [5,390,523]
#32. Pitbull - Globalization - 14,590 (3,432) [3,189,395]
#41. Jazmine Sullivan - Reality Show - 11,354 (9,710) [1,299,602]
#42. Iggy Azalea - Reclassified - 11,310 (2,015) [4,067,146]
#46. Beyonce - Beyonce - 10,598 (3,831) [4,290,313]
Last Week's Sales

Boby Shmurda Still Facing Gun Charge

XXL magazine has received clarification in the Special Narcotics’ case against Brooklyn, New York rapper Bobby Shmurda.
Although it was previously reported that Shmurda’s gun charge was dropped, XXL reports that that information was inaccurate.
Kait Cornell of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office, tells the publication, the rapper’s gun case was dismissed by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, but he still faces the charge in court.
The case being dropped by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is reportedly a “procedural step” to have the charge a part of the Special Narcotics’ case.
Additionally, the gun charge Shmurda faces resulted from authorities finding a gun on the rapper after obtaining a search warrant last summer, not the barbershop shooting the musician was allegedly involved in.
Shmurda is also now reportedly represented by Kenneth J. Montgomery, Esq. of KJM PLLC and not Howard Greenberg. Greenberg previously spoke with Revolt about the status of the rapper’s case.
“Brooklyn is done and now it’s on to Manhattan, where we need to teach these adversaries a lesson…The intermediate plan is if there is a superseding indictment on the 29th is to enter a plea of not guilty. The long term plan is to kick some ass and take no prisoners," he said.
Bobby Shmurda is currently scheduled to appear in court later today (January 29).

Safaree Samuels Says He Didn't Ghostwrite For Nicki Minaj

During an interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club earlier this month, Nicki Minaj’s ex-boyfriend Safaree Samuels alluded to helping the Young Money artist when it came to writing her rhymes.
"Every time it came to writing raps, it was me, her and the beat,” Samuels said during the interview, which took place on January 13. “It got to the point where the respect was gone. I'm the one who packed my stuff and left.”
Now, during a string of recent tweets posted to his Twitter account, Samuels admitted that he never wrote Nicki’s raps, adding that she’s more than capable of writing projects by herself.
“i wanna say 1 thing cuz ppl like to take bs and run with it..,” Samuels wrote on Twitter yesterday (January 28).
He continues: “if there was anything in my interview that came off the wrong way towards nicki i apologize and want ppl to kno that she was the best thing that ever happened to me and is a great person inside and out and the most talented person i kno.. and i never said i wrote her raps.
“she is wayyy more than capable of writing a album on her own without me!,” Safaree Samuels adds. “shes not a dumb person, so its easy for smart ppl to come up with the witty and smart things that she says! i dnt kno about other ppl but i kno when it comes to writing flow n delivery she is 1 of the best if not the best.she has her style i have mine. so stop saying i write her stuff! not true!!! she sits w/a pen&pad &does it herself!God bless.”
He wrapped up by saying, “and to you ignorant fans i really wish yall would leave me alone. yall are so miserable..let me build me and stop tryin to tear me down.”

New Jam:Lurzie-Ibebe Idi

Lagos born Aspiring super Talented rapper Trevor Jacobs AKA Lurzie hails from the south(Delta state) and is making wave also rising really fast with hit singles like "Eyin Mofoz" and the latest SHOKI jam called "IBEBE IDI". His street flows and reality based lyrics make him an artist to look out for with unparalleled rap weight and shutting down performances make him too notch despite being an aspiring artist. His songs play presently enjoy some airplay on a couple radio stations with a video to drop pretty soon and a follow up in 2015. Many more will come as he is presently being approached by a couple record companies which make it an assurance he will be hitting the music industry really big soon enough....... Lurzie aKa Dashiki Gucci! As he is usually called is Nigeria's next superstar...........
Download his new jam titled-Ibebe Idi-https://my.notjustok.com/track/download/id/10486

Common & John Legend To Perform "Glory" At The Oscars

After scoring a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and a Critics’ Choice award for Best Song for their record “Glory,” Common and John Legend are now scheduled to perform the song at the 87th Academy Awards next month.

The song “Glory” is featured on the soundtrack to the film Selma and is also nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. In addition to the aforementioned nomination, the film Selma is also nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

John Legend recently took to Twitter to express his excitement at being tapped as a performer at the Academy Awards.

“I'm so honored to announce that @TheAcademy invited me and @common to perform at the #Oscars on Feb. 22nd,” Legend said in a tweet sent on January 27.

During an interview with Yahoo's Katie Couric earlier this month, Common, who also stars in Selma, spoke on being moved enough by the film to create “Glory.”

"I was moved so much by the experience I had in Selma and I just thought John Legend would be the perfect voice because he is a very soulful artist and a meaningful artist but he also is active in helping out the community... We really wanted to capture the spirit of civil rights in that time but we wanted to show people that it's present and it's relative to now," Common said.

The 87th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, February 22nd at 7 PM EST on ABC.

Trending Music-August Alsina- Make It Home

TRENDING MUSIC: August Alsina Ft. Jeezy – Make It Home + No Love Ft. Nicki Minaj http://t.co/DDBGDtbgcp

Killer Mike Recalls Recording With Pimp C: 'He Taught Me How To Do It'

While chopping it up on Special Education, rapper Killer Mike detailed being in the studio with the legend Pimp C. Mike revealed that he was completely intimidated, and Pimp showed him the ropes.

“I was too intimidated,” Mike says within the clip. “I was a chump. He was a pimp. The pimp was telling me what to do. I listened. He was a pimp saying put some reverb, he was like, ‘This is how you do it boy. You stand at the microphone and this how you do it like Pimp C.’ He taught me how to do it.”