Although
Nas is expected to land atop the charts next week, the rapper isn’t overly concerned
with the sales of Hip-Hop Is Dead, his new album. “I just like
to hear that people are liking it and I don’t [need] to know what [the sales numbers]
are. I don’t care,” the rapper told AllHipHop.com after leaving a promotional
date on MTV’s TRL video countdown show. After its release on Tuesday,
the album is expected to push between 300,000 to 325,000, according to industry
staple Hits Magazine.
The
music industry trade site is also expecting Hip-Hop Is Dead to debut at
the top of the Billboard Top 200 Albums charts. Nas’ Def Jam label
mate Young Jeezy, whose new album The Inspiration debuted at No. 1 this
week, apparently didn’t agree with Nas’ assertion that Hip-Hop has met its demise.
After
an interview with rapper-turned-radio host Monie Love, he let his views known.
“It’s a new day and time. A lot of [new] cats feel touchy about the situation,
because this is how they eat,” Jeezy said to Monie Love on on Philadelphia’s WPHI-FM
100.3. “As far as what [Nas] is saying [Hip-Hop is dead] – he’s trippin. It’s
a new story. It’s a new movement. I cannot say that [Hip-Hop is dead].'”
Despite the tension, all is well between two Hip-Hop giants after they recently
spoke. “He called me. And it was just man to man. It is what it is. He
lost his cool and I’ve done it before and we’ve got that right. But, its all about
how you reconcile that and how quickly you do it. I respect that he called me,”
Nas said. Critics have been polarized about whether Hip-Hop truly needs
a funeral, but Nas simply wants the dialogue to be positive and productive.
“The topic was meant for rappers to respond in all kinds of ways so this is what
we all need,” he concluded. Hip-Hop Is Dead is in stores now.