the top five albums on Billboard's Top Hip Hop and R&B Albums chart were: Beanie Sigel's The B. Coming, 112's Pleasure & Pain, 50 Cent's The Massacre, Will Smith's Lost and Found and The Game's Documentary. Looking back I can remember most of these albums featured at least ubiquitous song that played on the radio every ten minutes sometimes one after another.
Radio DJ's loved to mix songs done by the The Game and 50 Cent with another 50 cent song. You would hear "Hate it or Love it" then suddenly have your ears bombarded with record scratches while the song transitions to Candy Shop. This was mostly due to the label connection between the two superstar rappers had. They were both signed as Shady/Aftermath/Interscope artists.
Beanie Sigel did not hit the radio as hard as his other rap counterparts sitting atop this chart at this time but he still landed at the number one spot that week. He had a thoughtful introspective single called "Feel it in the Air" leading the promo for his album but it wasn't something people wanted to hear in their car every twenty minutes. Honestly he only hit number one that week because his album debut as a release on the prominent hip hop label Rocafella, a sinking ship co-steered by Jay-Z and Dame Dash. The album was filled with features from State Property and other talented hip hop producers and artists. The only other single on that album that got attention was "Don't Stop", a smooth two step jam featuring Snoop Dogg on the chorus and Pharrell on the beat.
The most shocking album positioned in the top five that week was Will Smith's last album released to this date "Lost and Found". The only thing that actually comes to mind when this album is brought up is the ordinarily corny music video for his lead single "Switch". He is in an unnamed warehouse-like location where he is rapping his lyrics and randomly finds himself in a party setting. This last album had plenty of features but did not catch anyone's eye after the first week. This probably explains why he has since stuck to what he does best which is everything but rapping.
There is not much to say about the one R&B album on this list which is 112's Pleasure and Pain. I do not remember a thing about this record, not even the lead single so I will say no more about that.
Today, if you look at the charts you see Usher's Raymond vs Raymond at number one, Monica's Still Standing at number two, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah, Pt.2 Return of the Ankh at number three, Ludacris' Battle of the Sexes at number four and The E.N.D by Black Eyed Peas at number five. This is a major turnover from what we saw five years ago. At that very distant time in the past, we saw hip hop albums great and not so great top the charts, this week we see an R&B top heavy chart.
The reason no one is buying any hip hop albums right now. *BUZZ* What are low quality hip hop albums, alex? Correct!
Right now the most popular album is Battle of the Sexes. It is a good bass heavy album full of tracks that are designed to appeal to both men and women. It is definitely your best bet at finding a good hip hop album in the new section at your local music retailer right now. I do not even consider the Black Eyed Peas hip hop anymore, they are purely a pop group so let's take them out of this equation. The next highest selling hip hop album this week is Lil' Wayne's Rebirth album, a sorry attempt at Lil Wayne making a crossover rock record. Do not be fooled, it is a hip hop album with some rock sounds and samples mixed in. The best part about that album is when he strays from the rock sound namely Drop the World featuring Eminem. The compilation was a career mistake for him.
The other problem is way to many people have out hit singles but cannot compile a decent album together. Waka Flocka Flame? really? Nicki Minaj is killing it right now but her torch will burn out before she releases an album just like I think her labelmate Drake will allow to happen to himself. There are anthems on the radio right now but they are not and will not be attached to classic albums.
This trend will spin back around again soon when see Drake, Eminem, Kanye and T.I drop an album in the upcoming summer and fall months. We are just experiencing a slight hip hop drought is all. Have patience hip hop fans, better things are in the forecast.
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