Last week the Heineken Red Star Soul Tour hit Dallas, Texas at the trendy industry hot spot the Ghostbar and featured performances by the lovely British songstress Estelle, Atlanta rapper Big Boi (Outkast) and DJ D-Nice (Boogie Down Productions).

Hosted by comedian Kevin Hart (Soul Plane), the 21 and up event provided the crowd with free Heineken while overlooking the downtown Dallas skyline from atop the 33rd floor of luxurious Westin Hotel.

DJing was provided by D-Nice, who spun Hip-Hop classics in between sets and after the performances, keeping eagerly awaiting fans entertained.

Estelle performed first, blessing the crowd with melodies from her most recent album Shine and mixing in a few other songs from her previous work.

When asked about her upcoming album Estelle said that the first single “All Night Long” ft Ludacris and John Legend unfortunately leaked, but that she was “looking forward to releasing the new material to fans properly.”

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Big Boi Live

Big Boi, who’s performance featured fellow Dungeon Family member C-Bone, included Outkast hits “Da Art of Storytellin’,” “B.O.B.,” “Skew it on the Bar-B” and “Wheels of Steel.”

When asked about his upcoming solo album entitled Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty, Big Boi said that the album will include 14 brand new songs and will, feature TI, Jaime Foxx, Andre 3000 with production from Lil John, Scott Storch and Organized Noise.

The star-studded event in Dallas also included guest appearances by Sean “The Matrix” Marion of the Dallas Mavericks and Roy Williams of the Dallas Cowboys.

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September 23, 2009

            We are back

with the ChartWatch for the week of September 23, 2009.  Hopefully by now everyone has gotten the

jokes and photoshopped pictures of Kanye and Lil Mama out of their system.  Let’s get into the charts.

            First off,

I don’t think it should be a surprise to anyone that the number one artist this

week is Jay Z.  His eleventh studio

album, The Blueprint 3, moved 300,000

copies to claim the number one spot. 

This amount is well above the rest in the top ten and a good start as

the first release off of Roc Nation.  You

can say he is getting old or losing touch but he is still connecting with a

number of fans out there.  About 300,000

worth.

            Coming in

the number two spot is comeback queen Whitney Houston.  Her latest studio album, I Look To You, sold 165,000 copies. 

I still can’t believe that Whitney “show me the receipts” Houston is

back on the countdown.  Does this mean we

can look forward to a Bobby Brown comeback? 

I’ve been waiting for a “My Prerogative” or “We’ve Got Something in

Common” part 2. (Did you know that’s how you spell prerogative?  I’ve been mispronouncing that song for the

last decade or so).

            Next up is

the rock band Muse.  They had a

performance on the MTV awards.  I don’t

know much about them but this is a Hip Hop site so it doesn’t really

matter.  I made fun of 3oh!3  few weeks ago and they were on the MTV awards

too.  Apparently they have a following.

Who knew?

            At the

number four spot is the stonned Kid Cudi. 

His debut album, Man on the Moon:

The End of Day, moves 104,000 copies and places him in a good position on

the charts.  Hopefully he will be able to

retain his spot for the upcoming week.

            Miley Cyrus

is at number five with an album I’m sure no one on this site cares about.

            My

apologies for this next album.  I didn’t

include it in “Dropping This Week” last time because I figured everyone already

had it and it probably would not move lot of copies.  I was wrong. 

About 72,000 people picked up a copy of Drake’s So Far Gone placing the album in number six spot.

            Drake is

followed by The Beatles whose re-release of Abbey

Road claims the number seven spot.

            Michael

Jackson’s Number Ones continues to

move units jumping up two spots to number eight.

            At the

number nine spot is Lil Boosie.  His

latest release from Asylum, Superbad: The

Return of Boosie sells 46,000 copies. 

I got a couple of messages this last week saying I didn’t mention

anything about Lil Boosie.  He was in

“Dropping This Week” in the last column but since that was not enough…..Lil

Boosie is at number nine!  Lil Boosie is

at number nine! Lil Boosie is at number nine! Moving on…

            Finally at

the number ten spot is Taylor Swift with her latest album Fearless.  The album jumps

from number seventeen to ten on the heels of the Kany—–Taylor….I’m sorry to

interrupt your album at the ten spot….but Michael Jackson’s Number One’s was at the ten spot last

week and he was the greatest ever…so….alright that’s it.

            Beyond the

top ten we have The Black Eyed Peas with The

E.N.D at number thirteen.  The

Hip-Pop group managed to move another 39,000 copies of their fifth studio

album.

            Then we

have Raekwon who sells 17,000 copies of the sequel to his classic Only Built For Cuban Linx.  Only

Built for Cuban Linx II drops from the number five position to thirty

four.

            Then we

have Eminem at the number 43 spot with his latest studio album Relapse. 

The Detroit MC moves about 13,000 more copies of his comeback album.

            Finally,

Pitbull holds the number 48 spot with his newest album Rebelution.  The Miami MC

moves another 12,000 copies of his latest studio album.

Dropping This Week

            Before I

even get started with “Dropping”, last week I said that Big Pun died a little

over a decade ago.  Liquidswords95 caught my mistake because Pun passed a little under

a decade ago.  Hate to get stuff like

that wrong so thanks for pointing it out. 

Now on to dropping where we have some nice underground stuff this week.

            First up we have Brother Ali from the Rhymesayers

camp.  His latest album

comes on the heels of his well received album The Undisputed Truth.  His

sixth studio album, Us, has guest appearances by Chuck D,

Freeway, Joell Ortiz and Stokley Williams of Mint Condition (That’s right.

Stokley Williams. Mint Condition. What?!).

            Remember John Forte?  For those of you who think Jay Z’s first

album was The Blueprint his name may

be unfamiliar.  Smart guy that did some

work on Fugees hit album The Score (The Fugees….you know the group that Lauryn Hill, Wyclef, and Pras came from…Pras…he was a mc…he had a solo album or two…just look it up).  Well back in 2000 he was convicted and

sentenced to 14 years prison time for accepting $1.4 million worth of liquid

cocaine.  His sentenced was commuted by

George W. and he got released back in ’08. 

He had a cool little single called “Ninety Nine (Flash The Message)” on

his first album.  Well he’s back now with

his third album Stylefree the EP.  It’s an EP and not a full album but I’m sure

there are some fans out there that still want to give this a listen.

            Who’s afraid of Peanut Butter

Wolf?  The DJ and founder of Stones Throw

Records drops 45 Live.  It’s a live album.  There’s not too much more to say other than

its Peanut Butter Wolf.

            Next up is Esoteric from the duo 7L

& Esoteric.  His latest solo disc is

called Saving Semus Ryan and features

Masta Ace, Main Flow, 7L, K-Flay and a few others.  If you don’t recognize any of those names you

may want to pick up the album and expand your knowledge of Hip Hop.

            That’s what’s dropping this week.  As usual, go pick up an album or two.