ChartWatch For September 15, 2010: Kanye, Em, Atmosphere…

Kanye is on stage at the VMA’s with a beat machine.  Atmosphere makes it onto the charts.  Black Milk drops this week.  New artist like J. Cole and Jay Electronica are working on albums to be released.  Rumors continue to persist about four-man, super-group Slaughterhouse signing with Shady records.  Pusha T signs with GOOD Music.  Is it getting popular to do […]

Kanye is on stage at the VMA’s with a beat machine.  Atmosphere makes it onto the charts.  Black Milk drops this week.  New artist like J. Cole and Jay Electronica are working on albums to be released.  Rumors continue to persist about four-man, super-group Slaughterhouse signing with Shady records.  Pusha T signs with GOOD Music.  Is it getting popular to do Hip Hop again?  Not just pop music but actual Hip Hop?  Good for Hip Hop…bad for this column.  What am I going to make fun of if a majority of artists start putting out quality work?  I have to make a living he—Wait what?…………….In an airport?………………. On 9/11?  …………………It was a stolen gun?Nevermind….it looks like my job will be fine.  If you want to read up on Petey’s response to smuggling a gun….a stolen gun….on a plane….on 9/11…read here.   On to the charts.Eminem jumps back into the number 2 spot this week with his seventh studio album Recovery.  The Detroit MC sold 80,837 copies bringing the album’s total sales to 2,518,019. Drake also jumps up one spot, from 15 to 14, by selling 17,717 copies of his debut album Thank Me Later.  So far the Young Money MC has sold a total of 1,063,925 copies.Rick Ross is another rapper moving up the charts.  Ross jumps up two spots to number 23 with his fourth studio album Teflon Don.  The 12,845 copies sold by the Miami MC this week add to the albums total sales of 381,236.B.o.B sells 8,677 copies of his debut album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray, which brings his total sales to 371,779.  The Atlanta MC takes the biggest sales jump amongst Hip Hop artists moving ten spots, from 47 to 37.Finally, Atmosphere, the Hip Hop duo consisting of rapper, Slug, and DJ/producer, Ant, enters the charts at number 39 with their latest, To All My Friends Blood Makes The Blade Holy.  The Minnesota duo sell 8,233 copies this week. Dropping This WeekI don’t usually pick favorites in the “dropping” section of this column but this week is different.   Black Milk fourth release, the aptly titled Album of the Year, drops this week.  Forget being impartial.  Buy Black Milk’s album.  I know you’re use to rappers coming out saying they are the greatest or their album is a movement but Black Milk’s latest album title ain’t bragging.  Come December the underground (and more) might not say that this is the album of the year….but it’ll be a contender for top ten.  The Detroit MC/Producer’s latest effort features Royce da 5’9”, Elzhi, Melanie Rutherford, Monica Blaire, Mr. Porter, AB, and Danny Brown.  If you get a chance read up on Black Milk.Keeping it in the underground, MF Doom drops another live album, this time with Big Benn Klingon.  I got to be honest….I like Doom…I do…but at this point I can’t tell if he’s releasing a new album or just rehashing oldies.  Plus, as creative as I think it is to release albums under various aliases (I’m looking at you Madlib) it’s getting tougher and tougher to keep up.  I had to do some searching because I didn’t know if Big Benn Klingon was another rapper or just some Doom alter-ego.  This is a live album so it’s only three tracks, two of which are over 15 minutes.  That’s all the info I have on it. Speaking of underground groups that I like but can’t keep up with, Wu-Tang Management (?) drops Wu Tang Management Presents: Watchmen, a double album by Wu Tang affiliate group, the Watchmen.  Pop quiz.  How many Wu Tang affiliates are there in the entertainment industry?  Click here for the answer.  (Hint….it’s a lot).Ten years ago Rah Digga released Dirty Harriet to critical acclaim.  She was praised for her sharp lyrical ability.  Plus it gave females a representative in the Hip Hop community that could spit and keep her clothes on at the same time.  Then Rah Digga kind of disappeared.  Well she didn’t entirely disappear.  She left Busta Rhymes’ Flipmode Squad in ’07.  And she had a brief “acting” career, appearing in Thirteen Ghosts and Carmen: A Hip-Hopera.  Now, after years of pleading from Hip Hop community (and the general movie going public), Rah Digga ditches the screen and returns to the mic, releasing her sophomore album, Classic.  The album is produced completely by Nottz who has worked with everyone from Kanye, to Scarface, to Bilal.  Give it a listen. I love when a rapper comes out on the completely sell out, commercial tip and then, when things don’t pan out the way they planned, drop an “introspective” album that is usually the same as their last….except this time there is no hit single.  (And Lord knows they need that single.)  I gave that intro in honor of our next two artists Chingy and Huey.  First and foremost, my apologies go out to Chingy.  I, much like the rest of the music purchasing public, forgot that he was coming out with an album that dropped last week.  His fifth (yes…Chingy has five albums.  Makes you want to pick up a mic, huh?) studio album is entitled Success & Failure and features 8Ball and Lil Flip.   Then we have Mr “Pop-Lock-n-Drop-it”, St. Louis’ own Huey.  He drops his sophomore album this week entitled, Redemption featuring Dorrough, Colby O’Donis, JR, and Mack.  If you’re a Huey or Chingy fan sorry (not really).That’s it for ChartWatch this week. PS I know some of you thought I might comment on Maino for his smacking-up-a-documentarian-on-national-tv incident….but he doesn’t seem to big on constructive criticism.  I’ll just leave you with his response.www.twitter.com/drdougla