Chartwatch for July 22, 2009

Welcome back to Chartwatch where we countdown the top ten albums of the week and show new artists coming out in Hip-Hop. Last week Michael Jackson cut my article pretty short by controlling half of the top ten and it looks like this week will be the same.

So, what’s going on in Hip Hop this week? Obama wants your kids to aspire to be more than Lebron or Lil’ Wayne which is not really a bad idea. Gucci Man is/isn’t in jail. Video was released showing that Jermaine Dupri and Pacman Jones have both too much money and too much time on their hands. The Game continues his war against Jay-Z, and Jay-Z finally comments. 50 Cent is now dropping tracks against The Game as well as Young Buck. Plus, Joe Budden and Wu Tang squashed/didn’t squash their beef. I would say that rap is getting like wrestling but wrestling is no where near as dramatic right now. It might be good for the kids to aspire to be something else…like a reality TV star. B.E.T and VH1 are hiring. I figure if Chance & Real and Tiny & Toya can get TV shows…anyone can. Your kids may want to take a look at a few of the artist in “Dropping This Week” to get some different perspectives in Hip Hop.

Like I said early the charts this week are once again controlled by Michael Jackson who has five albums in the top ten. His Number Ones album falls to number two followed by the Essential Michael Jackson at number three, Thriller at the number four spot, Off The Wall at number eight, and finally Bad at number nine.

American Idol alum Daughtry takes the number one spot with his sophomore album Leave This Town.

Coming in at number five is Maxwell. His new album BLACKsummers’ night holds on to the charts with help from the singles “Pretty Wings” and “Bad Habits.”

The Hanna Montana 3 soundtrack comes in at number six.

The compilation album, Now 31, comes in at number seven. Everyone is familiar with the Now series so if you haven’t listen to any music in the last month pick up a copy and catch up.

Finally the Black Eyed Peas come in, again, at number 10 with their latest studio album The E.N.D. I don’t want to get Perez Hilton’d, but who is buying their album?

DROPPING THIS WEEK

In dropping this week show new Hip-Hop albums coming out for the week, plus we try to give artists some exposure they may not get in the mainstream. Hopefully fans will start branching our and give some new artists a chance.

Before we get started, last week we showcased the rerelease of Hip Hop legends the Beastie Boy’s 1994 album Ill Communication. Well this week it was announced on of the group members, Adam “MCA” Yauch has a cancerous tumor forcing the group to postpone their tour. Luckily it is treatable and hopefully the group will be back on the road soon. Now onto the new albums.

The first up in dropping this week is underground MC Awol. He teams up with producer Factor to create Owl Hours, the follow up to there 2007 effort Only Death Can Kill You. The album is executive produced by Xzibit and features the westcoast MC along with Aesop Rock, B-Real, and Ceschi. Those that are fans of Awol do not have to be told to pick this one up, but if you haven’t heard the Los Angeles MC now would be the time to start.

Next up Nashville, Tennessee rapper Haystak returns with his 15th album, Came A Long Way. The rapper has gained a moderate amount of regional success over the last decade with his albums The Natural, Cracks The Safe, and Car Fulla White Boys.

Flip over to the reviews page to check out our next artist, DJ Spinna. He drops his new album Sonic Smash with a few guest features including Torae, Phontae of Little Brother, and Elzhi. Really flip over and read the review and hopefully you’ll go pick up the album afterwards.

Seattle rap group Dyme Def drop their sophomore album Panic after the underground acclaim of their debut Space Music. The group was been getting some good reviews so you may want to check them out.

The next group originally known as Sixth Sense and now known as Eyedea and Abilities drops their new album By The Throat. The duo, for one, has an amazing album cover and are kind of known for incorporating art with their music. It has been five years since the duo released an album so theit fans have been waiting on this one.

Roughly a month ago we did a dropping this week which featured Guce’s new album Gucey Guce Doe Boy: I Got That Cake Mix. Besides having an incrediblely long titled the album also featured cover art of a “thugged out” Pillsbury Dough Boy (yes….gangster) taking the baking/drug metaphor to a new ridiculous level. Well Guce returns this week with his new album with J Stalin, Giants & Elephants. There’s not much more I can say about this album so I’ll stop there.

Finally Trife Diesel a.k.a Trife da God drops his debut disc Better Late Than Never. He has been featured on a few Ghostface albums and the Wu Tang MC returns the favor by appearing on the new disc along with Royce Da 5’9, Freeway, and Termanology.

We’ll see next week if any of the new albums make it onto the top 10 charts.

AllHipHop.com attempted to get KRS-One’s Top 5 Dead or Alive. Like Scarface, KRS-One appears on the lists of several rappers of note. The challenge of getting his Top 5 proved to be more challenging than anybody imagined. Still, journalist Phalary Long managed to extract some of the Blast Master’s favorite artists and why he doesn’t include the “dead” in his Top 5. His list may seem odd, he’s got the experience and the gall to back every word he says.

KRS-One: I don’t rate dead rappers. I think that’s unfair. Actually, I think it’s a disservice when the number one rapper is a dead rapper. Like when everyone says Tupac is the best rapper. Tupac wouldn’t say he was the best rapper and he wasn’t. Biggie would never say he was the dopest emcee. We used to battle Biggie all day and all night in Brooklyn in SOB’s, in the Palladium, no. No way, no how. Biggie is an icon in the culture because of his contribution. He had his own unique style. That alone gives you points, originality.

Oh, you can win with that off bat but when you say the best, well the best are not really heard. They’re not really heard, like Supernatural. I can’t even say [my Top 5] because I’m arrogant. I think everybody is wack. But then again, I clean that up by saying, I think we all have talent, we can’t be rated. I don’t know how to rate emcees because everybody got there place. If you don’t have your place, you’re not even on the list.

So those that have their place, I could never compete with Kool Keith. If you put me and Kool Keith in a battle, we would cancel each other out. I be coming with lyrical and he would put on a Elvis wig and be Kool Keith or me and Biz, we can go on for days, Biz would not battle me with lyrics, he’s going to start doing the dance and get the crowd wild, you may lose a battle messing with Biz, doing that dance, and he never spit a lyric, but Biz come out and be like, “I’m the emizza-k…” and you did all these lyrics and the crowd is giving it to Biz.

Don’t get on the stage with Doug E. Fresh and think you’re going to battle because he’s not going to say no rhymes. He’s going to be Doug E. Fresh. Rakim don’t battle but let him step on a stage. Emcees are going to be like, “Oh God.” With KRS, I’m in my own class as well. I don’t know anybody really comparing.

THE SIDEBAR

KRS-One took a moment to challenge the youth that also strive for greatness.

 KRS-One:  I will say this, I want young people, to look down on me, don’t look up to me. Too many young people praise me too much. They shouldn’t because if you keep praising KRS, the culture don’t go nowhere. I’m the old teacher. I will bust you’re a**, no doubt but I’m the standard. You’re standing on me. You’re not supposed to be looking up, I’m not the ceiling because you’ll be like, “I’ll never be KRS, I’ll never be like that. I’ll never be… no.” You’re supposed to look at me, like damn, that’s the mountain that I got to climb. Ok, I’m going to climb it. When you climb it, your skills get better and better.