bigted

Hey I really want this album to do well too to save hip-hop, I'm not trying to act like I don't care about it, it breaks my heart as a hip-hop fan to see the way hip-hop is right now, but I was just being realistic there, we can't go back in the past, we could only look forward and see what happens, I hope that Will releases "Tell Me Why" still even if the album falls off the chart 'cause there's no doubt that everyone needs to hear that powerful message!

Sales have nothing to do with quality, you mean to tell me that Nelly's dropping classic albums? Eminem's "Encore" is one of the worst albums in hip-hop history yet it's sold 5 million, it more than double the sales of Kanye's "College Dropout" which is a classic album compared to that trash, the wacker you are the more you sell now, I mean it used to be about quality when Run-DMC, JJFP, PE, KRS, and LL were topping the charts back in the day, but now it's changed, if it was about quality that top the charts "Street's Disciple", "Lost and Found", "BE", and "The Defintion" would sell 10 million and KRS-ONE, MF Doom, and Hieroglyphics would get airplay, "Encore" would sell less than 100,000 along with that other garbage on the airwaves that gets played so much that I don't even listen to the radio or they wouldn't even have record deals, I don't give a damn about emptv! Hip-hop heads don't talk about sales when they talk about great albums, they talk about the music, as long as Will makes great music he'll stay relevant in the hip-hop world, maybe not to emptv though, I'm happy that the album's great and he's not selling out his style just to sell more, the real fans respect it. Will summed this up perfect here of what commercial rap has become compared to what it used to be: "I call for the days of the unadulterated When the artistry was cultivated You know, back when rap was smart and multilayered We could rap without A&Rs& ultimatums" There's my 2 cents, I'm out!

Yeah look at Fat Joe, his single "Get It Poppin'" is one of the most popular songs of the summer but his album's gonna sell less than Bow Wow, lol, but why do we talk like "Party Starter"'ll save the album then? I'm happy with going gold here, I was worried that it'd even do that after the "Born To Reign" disaster and with mostly G Unit and Aftermath artists getting airplay and how much disrespect ol' school rappers get in the commercial scene, since MTV calls Eminem the original storyteller and ignores Slick Rick, I figured that nobody wanted to hear Will anymore, but it's reached my expectations and everything from this point on is a bonus, so I'm gonna chill!

It's amazing how fast the album fell, "Switch" is still #18 on the Billboard charts! :hmm:

Well much props to Common, he deserves to go platinum for the 1st time in his career, this is only his 2nd gold album, mostly hype from Kanye West producing it which is good hype in this case, you didn't read my last post where I actually gave Jay-Z props for what he does? He's the major reason why Kanye West is in the position he's in right now since they collab so much. Will's sold 30 million already though, he don't have to outsell everyone anymore, he's been there and done that for almost a good 2 decades, going gold is very respectable sales considering it was mostly him on the album and not much guest appearances like most commercial rap albums, Will could stop promoting the album now if he wants and come back again whenever he wants to just like LL does making albums every 2-3 years, which is better than making an album every 10 years like Dr. Dre, lol, this album ain't making or breaking his career, it's a marathon not a sprint, he'll still be around when G Unit fades away once a new gangsta rap group comes along to take their place, but I think Fat Joe's career's over since he's sold only 200,000.

Craig Mack feat. LL, Biggie, and Busta "Flava In Ya Ear", '94 classic!

Will's outsold most commercial rappers this year so far, he's outsold Fat Joe, Common, Memphis Bleek, Cassidy, and Beanie Siegal to name a few, he might possibly outsell Kanye West too 'cause "Diamonds..." is flopping badly right now on the charts.

I hope this is just a rumor, it'd be dissapointing if they delayed it this long! :thumbsdown:

:yeahthat: I think everything'll work out eventually as long as "Party Starter" eventually comes out, it's too dope of a song for people to front on!

I should seriously smack you for that comment. I've heard Biv everyday on GTA:SA cuz he hosts CSR Radio and I just don't hear the similarity. ← I was looking over that post I made yesterday and realised that Yayo doesn't sound like Biv and felt like deleting that post 'cause I realised I should never put those 2 in the same sentence, he sounds familiar though to somebody else I've heard but I don't care to even analyze that.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hiphopsite.com/?I=1 Chuck D of PUBLIC ENEMY fame has been a staunch supporter of downloading music on the internet ever since the birth of Napster, going as far as offering free downloads of his own material. It looks like that attitude might have come back to haunt him though as the Public Enemy record, Rebirth Of A Nation, which was scheduled to drop AUG 23rd, has now been reportedly pushed back to at least JAN 2006. Guess what it was due to? Though the official excuse from Guerilla Funk Records was that Public Enemy is promoting a similar record in the fall causing a conflict of interests, Rebirth has gone through some heavy bootlegging issues. Stay tuend for more, but if the album is to be pushed back, look for PE to respond with a whole new album next year.-- Chris Yuscavage hiphopsite.com

You don't understand what I mean there, Will is never gonna get the respect from the teeny bopper commercial rap fans who listen to 50 Cent 'cause he ain't biting the 2Pac "Thug Life" mentality or in this case destroying it, they're brainwashed to know what real hip-hop is! And to make another point on what I was referring to earlier so there's no confusion, KRS-ONE never has done Will Smith numbers with his albums, he's only sold around 5 million in his entire career, so if he's making less than a dollar for each album sold, he ain't really living in luxury so it's better for his sake to sell 100,000 on an independent label than it is to sell 100,000 on Jive. The commercial rap fans never heard of KRS-ONE, Public Enemy, or MC Lyte, and they don't give Will that much respect either, hip-hop heads respect them though and they respect JJFP too but not commercial rap fans, there's a thin line between commercial rap fans and hip-hop fans, the majority of fans who buy albums for any artist, including Jay-Z' fanbase, are bandwagon fans who only buy you 'cause you're hot, like most who are on Lorettaville, there are a few "potnas", loyal fans that're down even when the records don't sell 'cause they respect what the artist does.

Going gold is definately a huge accomplishment for any rapper today that's not a thug rapper, let alone a huge accomplishment for an ol'-school rapper, the state of hip-hop disgusts me right now, no matter what Will does he'll never get the props he deserves 'cause he's positive, I don't think Kanye West is gonna outsell 50 Cent either, I wasn't basically referring to Will when I said rappers are trying to survive, I was referring to rappers like KRS-ONE and De La Soul that couldn't sell much at the time they were dropped from their major labels, they're living more confortably than any of us still too probably, lol. Here's the bottomline, I'd rather see Will make albums every year too but if that happens his popularity would decline worse than it is now and when he tries to go back to movies somebody'll take his place as the king of the box office and then his fame is over, would you rather see that happen? Thinking about all this actually builds up respect for people like Jay-Z 'cause Jay-Z sells more albums than anyone else in recent years since he finds a way to keep himself out there, Nas has that problem even though he might be a better mc in my opinion but he doesn't get involved in endorsements, you could say KRS is a better mc than Will but he just doesn't find a way to stay out there either, obviously Jay-Z has studied Will's moves more carefully than most rappers out now, the hip-hop industry is a buisiness and you gotta plot a way to win, Will's gonna be able to keep on making albums 'cause he keeps himself out there.

Well maybe 50 Cent might have a better contract than Will from Interscope and has more money in his deal to promote his album by releasing more singles, which would be unfortunate but possibly true, we know how biased the industry has been! :mad: Let's be real if Slick Rick makes a comeback album next year, it'll flop, he ain't relevant in the industry anymore 'cause we don't see him making TV appearances at all, but Will has stayed relevant with his acting career, people always see him out there, he's a household name. And who gives a damn if Will's album flops, Jazzy Jeff doesn't sell much and we still love him right? I know Public Enemy's album won't sell much either but that ain't gonna stop me from saying that they're one of my favorite groups of all-time and Queen Latifah hasn't released an album since '98 and she's been only doing movies but I still think she's the greatest female mc of all time, keep it real!

I don't think Will's primarily concerned with just sellin' albums, he just wants to express himself and release the message from his songs and whoever buys it, buys it, rapping doesn't pay his bills like he said before, lol, they make less than a dollar for each album they sell on major labels, independent artists get $5-10 each album sold, KRS probably makes as much money as Will does from rapping even though he sells less, the money that Interscope gave Will to promote the album might've ran low, and yes entertainers make millions of dollars but some gradually go bankrupt if their career ends at 30 years old, stretching 10 million dollars for another 30-50 years in their life might not work, and especially if they give a good chunk to charity if they're honest people like Will but then again, I'd die to be in that position, I'm just worried about eating every month let alone 30 years from now, lol, even if Will's fame ended I think he'd probably still rap even if he was bagging groceries, lol, I don't think he'll ever stop rapping no matter what else he does 'cause he loves hip-hop. btw, I like real discussion like this, you can't get this at Lorettaville! :smart:

:word: to fuq, it's like what I was saying yesterday, I gave a lot of the G Unit stuff a listen but it just doesn't appeal to me, sure the singles might have a catchy sound that might appeal to a lot of teenagers but I think that it doesn't have as much substance as I'd like in a song lyrically, I prefer mcs like Rakim, FP, KRS, LL, or Nas when I comes to that, but I wouldn't front though, I would dance to it if I was at a club with hot chicks and they played it, that's all it's good for, of course I'd request "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" or "Switch" :wiggle: I don't understand how Eminem could ever diss Will, Will opened a lot of doors for rappers to do other things besides rap to lengthen their careers like movies, clothing lines, etc., he wouldn't be in this position if hip-hop never crossed over and that's real!

Nelly's albums are not good either, Britney Spears albums are not good, they only sell millions 'cause of marketing not 'cause of skills and there's a lot of great artists that ain't marketed the right way so they won't sell, like you don't know about Aaron Hall's album since he ain't on MTV, so it won't sell but that doesn't mean it's not a good album and "Code Red" is a hip-hop classic but it wasn't marketed the right way so it didn't sell millions and "Lost and Found" won't either if Interscope doesn't market it better, it's all a buisiness homie.

It's be dissapointing if Will went back to acting, I feel your point Frentic, but you gotta look at it like this, his acting career has kept him more relevant in the public eye longer than most of the rappers that came out with him, that's why LL's last album went gold too, if they weren't acting they'd sell less than 100,000 like De La Soul and KRS-ONE who were going platinum when JJFP was back in the days, I mean you gotta do something to stay in the public eye, even Jay-Z is doing endorsement deals which'll keep him relevant and he'll be able to still sell albums now 'cause of that if he wants to come back, it's a buisiness and if you don't do something else besides rapping, your career will fade away, major labels don't pay much either, KRS-ONE and De La Soul could still make albums 'cause the independent labels pay more, everyone's doing what they can to survive to raise their families, not just entertain.

I was reading over on the okayplayer board and they were talkin' about Aaron Hall and Babyface havin' albums out, and I was like wtf? :hmm: It's about time that some good r&b drops, we need more soul singers out besides R. Kelly.

Interscope sucks! :lolsign: There's gonna be a curse war in here in a minute, I could feel it.

Hey I noticed that his album's out now 'cause they're sellin' it over at amazon.com!: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=music&n=507846 The thing that sucks about independent releases is that even if you're a fan of the artist, it's hard to tell when the album's coming out, I don't think he has a legit fansite, and speaking of r&b, Babyface has a new album out now too called "Grown And Sexy", and Keith Sweat is gonna have an album out on Sept. 27th called "The Velvet Room", I'm gonna put these on my Christmas wish list, lol.

If Sony pays more money for their artists to get airplay, why don't they play Nas much or gave Will better promotion on "Born To Reign"? :hmm:

I'd take "Diamonds..." over every commercial rap song out right now, at least Kanye attempts to drop knowledge, more rappers don't make songs with substance now that's why I ain't feelin' much of anything except the underground and throwback stuff, "College Dropout" was a good album though and I enjoy some songs on there and I might listen to it occasionally but I think people get carried away when they say it's on the same level as "Illmatic" and "Criminal Minded", nobody's making albums on that level now, that's like saying Usher is better than Michael Jackson, but back to "Diamonds...", I'm feeling the remix better 'cause he's more on-point than on the original and I gotta admit that Jigga killed it on his verse, that was the most aggressive flow I've heard from him in a while.

"Tell me Why" can't come out now 'cause Mary J. Blidge needs to free up her schedule, she's busy working on a new album right now I think and I don't see there being a problem with "Party Starter" being released to the radio and the video released to TV stations while Will's working on a new film, when he's done with that, there'll be a JJFP tour and the album'll be high on the charts, stay patient, I just hope Will doesn't get overexhausted, lol!

"DJs were paid to play that tune Spitzer probe finds gigantic payola scam; Sony will pay $10M BY KATE MEYER and ADAM LISBERG DAILY NEWS WRITERS Sick of lousy songs on the radio? Blame it on a corrupt record business that skews the Top 40 by giving free trips and other goodies to radio programmers - and cold cash to radio stations to play their artists, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer charged yesterday. Big-name artists like Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion and Good Charlotte got airtime on the radio because their labels gave away computers and trips to Las Vegas, according to telltale industry E-mails Spitzer uncovered - and revealed yesterday. "Payola is pervasive. It reaches to the very top of the industry, on the radio side and the label side," Spitzer said yesterday as he announced the first settlement in his probe of pay-for-play in the music industry. Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed to pay $10 million to charity to settle Spitzer's charges. But he has subpoenaed three other record companies - and said some record labels and radio stations are breaking the law - in what could be the biggest payola scandal since the 1950s. "We are far along with the other three labels. We have received documents and are in conversations with them," Spitzer said. "This investigation began with the labels. We have obviously expanded out to the radio stations." The sleazy deals were no surprise to music fans like Patricia Hatcher of Brooklyn, who was shopping at Tower Records in Greenwich Village yesterday. "You could definitely tell that they were playing the same artists over and over again," said Hatcher, 25. "I assumed that something was going on. It's kind of shady all around." E-mails and documents from Sony show it paid up to $1,000 to get a new song played on a single radio station, gave contest prizes to deejays instead of listeners, and even hired crews of callers to bombard stations' request lines, Spitzer said. "Payola drives promotion," he said. "It limits the diversity of music that is on-air. It limits the access of artists to airtime, and hence their capacity to succeed." Sony apologized for its improper conduct and promised to change its ways - and in exchange, sources said, Spitzer agreed not to identify any high-ranking Sony execs by name. The only Sony employee to lose his job as a result was Joel Klaiman, an executive vice president at Sony subsidiary Epic Records, sources said. Two radio chains also have fired programmers since Spitzer launched his probe. Payola long has been a problem in the record business, and independent record promoters were once notorious for giving cash, drugs and prostitutes to deejays to get airtime. Payola is a state and federal crime, but the Federal Communications Commission has levied just one $8,000 fine in the past decade - compared with the $550,000 fine for Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl show. Spitzer said the FCC should look at stripping licenses from the worst radio stations - and an FCC commissioner jumped aboard. "It's unfair to listeners if they hear songs on the radio because someone was paid off, not because it's good music," said Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. "We need an ... investigation to determine whether these practices violate federal payola laws." But the music business may have more to fear from bored fans than from angry regulators. "They do overplay a lot of music," said Alina Kravchenko, 20, of the upper West Side, browsing in the Times Square MTV store. "I like Jessica Simpson, but even her stuff is overplayed. Sometimes it gets on my nerves. It gets so old that I turn to the Spanish station." With George Rush"