bigted

:iagree: to what AJ said, I haven't listened to "College Dropout" in quite a few months now, I'd just consider that a lil' bit above average album, if I was to judge your review there for "Late Registration" I'd think it's the greatest rap album of all time 'cause even "Raising Hell", "Illmatic", "Mama Said Knock You Out", "It Takes A Nation Of Millions...", "Paid In Full", and "Code Red" had one or 2 tracks that'd be ranked around an 8 and only had about 3 or 4 tracks that'd be ranked a 10, with everything else being around 8.5-9.5, your entitled to your opinion but 2 albums don't make you a legend, maybe 10 years from now if we're still talkin' about those albums then maybe we could say that, since people still talk about Nas' 1st 2 albums in 2005, it's hard to compare artists from different eras though, if Kanye could knock 50 Cent out the game then he'd be a legend!

Nas could have a greatest hits albums from a lot of his hits in his career from his other albums that had more success, "Illmatic" wasn't mainstream so it'd be hard to put any of those songs on there.

Kanye West has a MTV special? Damn he might outsell 50 Cent now, a lot of people watch that show, it's kinda messed up they didn't do one for Will when his album dropped, if they sat down to interview him the album could be selling better right now. I'm gonna have to peep out the re-run 'cause I was watching the "Bobby Brown Show" last night.

Keith Sweat "Whatever You Want"

Thanks for the review, I'll definately check out the leak and see it for myself, I personally think that the "Diamonds Remix" is a lot better than the original even though it didn't completely make sense either at least it was more listenable I'd rate the remix 9/10 and the original 7/10, some of that review might of been from hype too of just hearing it for the 1st time 'cause some of us after hearing "Lost and Found" for the first time were sayin' that every track was great when there's really a couple songs that ain't.

Well let's be real, there's people out there that do like 50 Cent and Mike Jones, that's why they're popular, so you think "Born To Reign" is as bad as their albums? It was Will's worst album but come on, it wasn't the worst album in hip-hop history, if he promoted it at least as much as he promoted "Lost and Found", it'd gone gold officially, not shipped gold. Will could release 5 singles on "Lost and Found" like "Code Red" and it still might not outsell 50 Cent and Eminem, it's not a guarantee that it would, gangsta rap is the style now ever since "The Chronic" and Will doesn't appeal to that fanbase, "Big Willie Style" was the one miracle he performed after a flopped album that might not ever happen again but "Lost and Found" improving a lil' bit over "Born To Reign" is good enough for me and I'm done talkin' about it.

I'd say that "Born To Reign" was better quality than "Nellyville" and "The Eminem Show" albums that were selling millions at that time, it just wasn't promoted at all like those were and that's why it didn't sell much, I actually read people giving good reviews of "Born To Reign" on amazon.com. You're right a lot of artists do get boring after a while and that's what has kept him in the game, I think Will always comes back with something fresh that attracts the fans for buying the albums. "Willenium" sold its sales of the success of "Will 2K" and "Freakin' It", which weren't as big of hits as "Switch" was which tells you that more people download albums now than back then, even if "Party Starter" takes off it might not do "Willenium" numbers, "Will 2K" only made up to #25 and "Freakin' It" flopped at #99, even "Party Starter" at #65 is already more successful than that even without the video already, lol, if it was '99 "Lost and Found" would be at 4 million already and 50 Cent would be at 10 million with all of singles out, people download him too, it's a different time now. We could compare it to "Code Red" too to compare quality albums with each other, JJFP released FIVE singles and it still only sold 200,000 and that was 12 years ago where people thought that JJFP were finished and that Will would just go into acting and leave music forever, the biggest miracle in music history was that he was able to bounce back and sell 10 million+ with "Big Willie Style" where he released singles 6 months apart from each other too on top of that, and now flash forward to 2005 in seeing Will triple sales of "Born To Reign" no matter how bad some of us might say it was I'd say yes sellin' 600,000 now this late in his rap career is amazing, it's gonna be platinum by the end of the year most likely too, people take Will's success for granted but nobody in hip-hop has done what he's done.

I don't get why they'd bleep out "White girl", I mean sometimes radio doesn't bleep out bitch or whore, Kanye's taking a stand there in not trying to be an industry puppet, my respect for him goes up a lil' bit no doubt. :interesting:

Well it's easier to compare "Lost and Found" to "Born To Reign" sales wise 'cause it was his last album, it's hard to compare the progress of "Lost and Found" to the progress of "Big Willie Style" 'cause that was a few albums ago and it ain't '97 anymore, even the Backstreet Boys went from selling 13 million to selling 500,000 since then, any artist from any music genre has a tough time staying relevant. Will's sellin' more than any rapper who was popular out at that time too, I doubt Busta Rhymes is gonna sell that much with his new album either when it comes out and Wyclef's sales fell off dramatically too since he released "The Carnival", KRS-ONE went gold at that time too and he hasn't come close that since and he's been releasing albums mostly every year, Will's been one of the most consistant sellin' in hip-hop history and it's even more amazing that he's done it this well not releasing albums every year, Ludacris and Jay-Z only stay relevant 'cause they release albums every year even though gradually they're gonna lose popularity too with new rappers coming along, but then again Will topping the box office has always kept him in the public spotlight too you could say, even selling only a few hundred thousand each album is being consistant 'cause some go from platinum with a few hit songs to selling 90,000 and not having a hit song getting airplay.

I think once "Party Starter" is out in full effect, the sales for the album'll improve a lil' bit or at least it'll stay on the charts and it'll have a chance to go platinum once the tour comes along in the fall, that'd also help boost some sales too, it's good though that Will's had all this success selling 600,000 with the weakest song on his album 'cause other rappers over the past years have released many singles and could barely sell that amount, even younger rappers coming out but time is also a factor against Will, even Michael Jackson has had the same problem with his sales and he's the king of music, "Thriller" sold 30 million and his last album "Invincible" only sold 5 million, nobody stays popular forever and some never get popular at all, not every rapper could say that have an album sellin' as much as "Big Willie Style", that's one of the highest sellin' of all-time, talent wise Will is still in his prime in fact he's improving some too, "Born To Reign" was one of the better albums in '02 too even though it wasn't one of his better ones some of us might say, "Lost and Found" deserves much better but so did "Code Red" also, but at the end of the day at least Will's still in the game.

'Best Of' Albums Not So Great These Days By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP Music Writer NEW YORK - A greatest-hits album once stood as a watershed - a milestone chronicling a collection of top-rated hits, culturally significant songs or the end of a stellar career. But in recent years, a flood of "best of" titles from acts with only few years in the business - and performers with even fewer hits - have called into question how great a greatest-hits collection is. Last fall, Britney Spears released "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative," a retrospective of her chart-topping, multiplatinum recording career - all six years of it. The Backstreet Boys put out "The Hits: Chapter One" in 2001 - just four years after releasing their first album. "I don't know what you'd put on a record if you've only been making records for five years. I don't know what those greatest hits would be," said veteran rocker John Mellencamp. At least Spears and the Boys had a steady collection of hits - or can say they have more than just one. Among the more questionable greatest-hits collections that have popped up in recent years: "Toy Soldiers: The Best of Martika" (with one hit from the 1980s); "The Best of Mandy Moore," from an entertainer who had more success as an actress than she ever did as a singer; and "The Best of O.D.B.," from the late rapper who will best be remembered for his wild behavior and legal troubles than his chart-topping hits (or lack thereof). And while teen queen Hilary Duff has sold millions of albums, she's only released two discs - the first one in 2003 - and neither spawned a top 10 hit. Her "best of" collection, "Most Wanted," hit record stores Tuesday. "I guess with music becoming so disposable, things just happen so much faster now," said Collective Soul guitarist Dean Roland, whose band put out a greatest-hits album of its own in 2001. "The short answer to the whole thing is it comes out to a money issue. The labels can put a greatest-hits album out and it's going to sell." They can be wildly popular. The Eagles' "Their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975" is the best-selling album in U.S. history, selling more than 28 million copies. They're also cheap to produce and promote. Sheryl Crow, whose "The Very Best of Sheryl Crow," was a multiplatinum hit in 2003, agrees that in some cases, thoughts of profits weigh heavily. "Part of that is record labels continually try to work their catalog so they always have money coming in," Crow said. But Kevin Gore, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Rhino Entertainment, which puts out various greatest-hits packages, compilations and boxed sets, says a "Best of Sugar Ray" - which they recently released - is valid, even if some may sneer. "At the end of the day, there's a larger audience that will buy a greatest-hits collection than might buy the individual albums just because they've chosen not to buy the original albums," Gore said. "Let's say there's two hit songs on a record from five years ago, and then there's another two hit songs from a record that's three years ago," he said. "You have a greater opportunity to bring in a larger audience because you're putting all the hits in one place." It's an idea the Backstreet Boys agree with - even though, initially, they balked at the idea of putting one out. "For me as an artist, like, when I see somebody put out a greatest-hits record, they're either finished, or they need some time (off)," said Brian Littrell. "I kind of felt it was too soon to put those great songs on a CD. I think I wanted our fans to miss them a little bit." However, Howie Dorough said in many ways, the greatest-hits album - which sold more than 1 million copies and contained a few new tunes - may have drawn the casual fan who had never brought a Backstreet Boys CD. "We've had, knock on wood, over 12 singles," Dorough said. "But for somebody who's not a truly Backstreet fan, (who) wants to go out and buy five different records? ... To be able to go and buy their greatest hits, I'd do that in a heartbeat." A more critical issue, record companies say, is the decreasing shelf space to carry an artist's catalog. With the advent of Wal-Mart and Target as major record stores, there are fewer outlets where you might find several different albums from one artist. "If an artist has five or six or seven albums in his or her catalog, a lot of times many retailers are only carrying two or three. Perhaps songs that were included on albums one, three and five might no longer get the kind of visibility or shelf space that a hits record will provide those particular songs," said Jeff Jones, executive vice president of Sony BMG's catalog division Legacy Recordings (whose catalog releases this year range from Miles Davis to Bob Dylan to ... Martika). Which brings us back to Martika's "Best Of ..." collection. At the time, her "Toy Soldiers" was enjoying a resurgence after Eminem sampled it on his song, "Like Toy Soldiers." Fans searching for the original song may have been out of luck, Jones said. Stores weren't carrying her records anymore, he said, adding: "So without creating a new hits collection, there's no visibility." Besides, just because the average person can't name more than one Martika song doesn't mean there aren't fans out there. "A hits collection doesn't necessarily always have to be 16 No. 1 songs," Jones said. Not anymore. Which is good news for the PM Dawns, Lisa Stansfields and Color Me Badds of the world - who all have greatest-hits albums.

Ja Rule sold 600,000 on his last album? I think I only remember seein' his video a couple times on BET last year, I don't think I remember MTV even playing it, Def Jam hardly promoted it, that's a lot for him considering that they didn't play his videos as much as his past few albums but anyway that's one of the releast things Kanye said there, he put in a fan's perspective, we ain't making that kind of money to buy that much albums out there so it's cheaper for us to download some music for us to enjoy it but I personally think though if you're a fan of somebody you'll eventually buy the album, basically Will Smith, Nas, and LL Cool J are the only ones that I'll buy albums from on the 1st day or week, everybody else I buy eventually if I like them.

It's a lil' dissapointing to not see Will at the top of the charts since I'm a fan but in perspective there's a lot of rappers like Fat Joe, Memphis Bleek, and Cassidy that'd love to be selling 600,000 since their albums are floppin' badly, 600,000 is respectable for today's standards of the rap game but no doubt I wish it was doin' "Big Willie Style" numbers 'cause this deserves to be called one of Will's best albums and not be underrated like "Code Red", most rappers on their 9th album or more are barely sellin' 100,000 except for LL Cool J, so this is an accomplishment.

What's Up Y'all, I was going through my book of rhymes and found this poem I wrote about how wack the commercial hip-hop scene is now: Changing The Script Poem written on May 14, 2004 When I listen to the radio these days It becomes a depressing drag Because a lot of music on it is full of distaste There are cats who are just spitting to brag And that's not a cool display That's why the music is getting a stereotype tag This music is such a disgrace So somebody has to start changing the script Is creativity something that still breathes? The originality is just rarely seen You have to wear name brands In order to be on the scene It's such a demand When you don't have that much money It leaves you sad Especially when you get lonely I know you want to change Those words in your pad But you're too worried about selling C.D's So you keep on rolling With what you had To me that gets boring Because you said the same thing in the past You do tour performances But that doesn't make you a man If you go by the same script You'll ultimately finish last So enjoy your moment Because soon your career will be the past Unless you start changing the script

Funk Flex. Feat. Faith Evans "The Good Life"

It'd fit in with all the other crap that they play anyway! :lolsign:

Maybe they're waiting until it's selling less than 1,000! :nhawong: :ponder:

Jamie Foxx admitted that he got the role of Willie Beaman 'cause he threw a football better than Puffy, who was originally up for the leading role, that sorta did change Jamie's career for the better, before that he was just an average comedian with a sitcom, you could sorta say that his career is on the same path as Will's except "Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air" was more successful and groundbreaking since Will was a rapper having a #1 sitcom, Vibe always hates on Will so that's not surprising, they even said that he sounded like Eminem on his "Lost and Found" album! :jada: Most magazines would rank Will at the top of their lists since Will's the most popular entertainer out, Vibe is just haters.

The Diamonds Remix sounds dope, he was on point on that track, I didn't say "Golddigger" sucks, I'd probably rate it what you did there, it's more of an average track, yeah you're right magazines do say things to beef up their sales, I shouldn't be so critical about that.

Vanilla Ice's still rappin'? :3-laugh3: Is he still trying to sound like a wannabe gangsta?

Time to update again: 129 SMITH*WILL LOST & FOUND 8,176 -15 9,648 604,437

That's nice that Jamie Foxx gave props to Will but they put him at #1 in the Vibe's hottest people list and didn't mention Will? "Ray" is the only great movie Jamie Foxx has done so far, that really hyped him up, I like "Any Given Sunday" too but the only reason he got that role is 'cause he could throw a football, Will's been more consistant than him.

That'd be a dope idea when JJFP tour they'd do tracks with some of the artists in that country, there could be a contest for the people that go attend the shows to get on a track with them.

Hopefully "Gold Digger" is the worst song on the album, that song does seem kinda boring, a lot of rappers talk about golddiggers so that doesn't seem like nothin' new, I'm not trying to hate when I say that either, his ego does disappoint me sometimes and makes me not wanna buy his album but at least he puts out good music once in a while unlike other ego trip fools like 50 Cent who talk like they're the greatest and only put out wack songs so I will at least check out the album when the hype settles down, I like some of his songs on "College Dropout" but I don't feel it deserves to be among the all-time great albums, it's one of the better albums recently but all-time? Not yet, maybe 10 years from now if people still listen to it, I don't see it as an album people'll listen to forever.

:iagree: