Nah Right

Here is the list of top selling albums for 2005. As you can see rap artists grabbed 4 spots on the list, which is 3 more than last year when Em held the lone spot with Encore.  Two of the 4 albums on this years list were garbage and two of them were pretty good. I think you can guess which two I didn’t like.

1.) "The Massacre" 50 Cent 4,805,105
2.) "The Emancipation of Mimi" Mariah Carey 4,576,141
3.) "Breakaway" Kelly Clarkson 3,182,857
4.) "American Idiot" Green Day 3,163,741
5.) "Monkey Business" Black Eyed Peas 2,719,642
6.) "X&Y" Coldplay 2,503,914
7.) "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" Gwen Stefani 2,381,327
8.) "Documentary" The Game 2,260,162
9.) "Late Registration" Kanye West 2,250,854
10.) "Feels Like Today" Rascal Flatts 2,154,647

What will 2005 bring for these artists? Will 50 release another album this year? If he does, it’s a safe bet that it’ll go platinum, but will it outsell The Massacre? Game’s next album, The Doctor’s Advocate, is scheduled for release in early 2006, but will it match the success of the Documentary? How will this new beef with his brother, and his obsessive campaign against G-Unit play with his fans? And what about Kanye? He has his work cut out for him over at his G.O.O.D. label, will he be able to balance his other artists projects as well as his 3rd joint, Graduation? I could care less what the Black Eyed Peas do, hopefully they’ll go away and not come back.

Game and his brother Big Fase have each released statements addressing the fued that has erupted between them. In a nutshell Game is saying that dudes took advantage of him and his success and Fase countered that he is responsible for Game’s career and that the life he portrays on record is actually Fase’s story. Below are exceprts from both statements:

The Game:  

I was forced to switch the domain of my former website theblackwallstreet.com to therealblackwallstreet.com due to the disrespect shown towards me from ex-employees who decided to turn their backs on me and my imprint, because they felt they weren’t getting enough money out of me. In the past year [2005] I have spent over $1.5 million dollars on my homies and employees of The Black Wallstreet label. I bought n***as new cars, gave n***as thousands of dollars in cash daily, paid for n***as to go on trips that hood n***as will never be able to go on in their lifetime. I took care of n***a’s kids, paid n***a’s rent, gave n***as jewelry and a lot of other s**t that I didn’t have to do. All that, and I HAVE NEVER ASKED FOR ANYTHING in return from them. I let n***as live, let them make money off ME using my name, selling my s**t all without asking for a cut, and gave them the opportunity of a lifetime to do whatever they want, opening the doors very few ever see to get in the business and giving them the chance to make something legal, positive, and legit out of their lives.

Big Fase:

Basically, what I’ve done is I’ve set the stage and I created the backdrop for The Game. I mean, his n***as that have been visible for the past year, those have been my n***as. Basically, what I did, I provided the background story for Game. I got so much love where I am, and you know me and you never heard of my brother – you love him too. We don’t share the same mother, we share the same father. For lack of a better word, I certified his gangster. A year later, me and everybody that loves me, we’re left out here with nothing…My hood, which is Cedar Block, ain’t never been like the big gang where there are 200-300 n***gas. My hood is real family based. We got our perimeters. I don’t say have, because we really not that no more. The gang is the gang, but the opportunity that was before us was the possibly and the opportunity to turn all this into positives. And somebody that opposed me said, "Why would you let your brother represent your hood when he wasn’t really from there’" I did it to bring closure to this gang s**t.

I have to say, this has been a good week for Eye Candy. Since I’ll have to wait until that XXL issue hits stands to see the Esther Baxter layout, I’ll have to make do with this spread from Smooth. How will I ever manage….Don’t ever say I didn’t give ya’ll anything for Christmas.

It’s Christmas time in Hollis Queens
Mom’s cooking chicken and collard greens
Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese
And Santa put gifts under Christmas trees
Decorate the house with lights at night
Snow’s on the ground, snow white so bright
In the fireplace is the yule log
Beneath the mistle toe as we drink egg nog
The rhymes you hear are the rhymes of Darryl’s
But each and every year we bust Chrsitmas carrols

Christmas Rap - Profile Records - 1987 

Unless there are any shootouts or carjackings tomorrow, I’ll be taking the day off. I just wanted to wish everybody a Happy Holidays and thank you all for stopping through. Even though I’ll be off tomorrow, I have already scheduled a couple of ’stocking stuffer’ posts that will publish automatically, so if you’re not too drunk to use a computer, be sure to swing through and pick up your gifts.

Eskay

Peep this interview with Mobb Deep from some European magazine. Lil Ballerina P, who has been on a roll lately with his absurd comments, says that he would win a battle against Nas. It’s amazing how you don’t even have say anything to discredit this guy, because he does it himself everytime he opens his mouth. Somebody tell twinkletoes that maybe, and I stress the maybe, 5 or 6 years ago he could have possibly battled Nas and not been totally embarrased. Today though? P you couldn’t win a battle with Bow Wow. Other revelations from the article include the fact that ‘gangsta’ Hav hasn’t commited a crime since he was 17 and that P cries when he stubs his toe. Click the image above to read the whole interview.

There’s some shadyness going on between The Game, his brother Big Fase, and the Black Wall Street crew in Compton. A couple of days ago Game announced that due to a hacking of the BWS website, he would be moving the official site to www.therealblackwallstreet.com. The old site, theblackwallstreet.com, now appears to be run by associates of Big Fase and the BWS logo has been replaced with the Brazil and Wilmington logo you see above. Additonally, the old site is now repping Glasses Malone pretty hard, who you may remember Game calling out on 120 Bars. What makes all of this so confusing is that on the original site’s forum none of the admins or mods will explain what’s going on. All you get from them is a bunch of non-denials and assurances that everything will be explained next week. If this beef is real, these ‘original’ BWS guys need to get a grip on reality if they think the average fan is gonna ride with them over Game. I mean who the hell is G.Malone anyway? If this is some manufactured publicity stunt, somebody should explain to them that frustrating and confusing your supporters is not the best way to build and keep a loyal fan base.

Sadat X, of the legendary crew Brand Nubian, was arrested Thursday in Harlem on weapons possesion charges after he flashed the burner at a group of kids on 158th and Broadway and reportedly threatened to "kill everybody." This seems kind of strange to me, ‘cuz Sadat always came across as a level headed guy, not the type who pulls out on random teenagers. The rapper was actually teaching the 6th grade for a while, but he recently took a sabbatical to focus on his music and drop his second solo joint Experience and Education, which I’ll admit I slept on. I did catch his verse on Beanie’s album this year and I understand he also spit on Missy’s new joint. While this was definitely an unfortunate incident, situations like this do tend to help rappers more than they hurt them nowadays. Hold your head Sadat, and leave the burner at home next time homey.

Sadat X Interview at AHH from November.

Foxy Brown was handcuffed to a bench in court today after she stuck her tounge out at the judge to prove she wasn’t chewing gum. She also got into a screaming match with the court officer who cuffed her because of Foxy’s bracelets or some such nonsense. First of all Foxy, you probably shouldn’t go into court and wild out in front of the judge who is hearing your case. Acting like a spoiled, immature diva isn’t going to help you beat a case where  somebody’s accusing you of being a spoiled, immature diva.

Next up we have Lil Ballerina P who along with his fellow lil dun dun Havoc, appeared on 106th and Park today. (No, I don’t watch 106th and Park but when I heard the 50 Cent fan club was appearing I said what the hell.) So they’re giving Tigger and whats-her-face that standard interview they’ve been using for the last couple of months (Yes, 50 picked out our outfits, no we’re not allowed to speak to Fat Joe anymore), when Prodigy says the following in response to a viewers e-mail about Nas: "Me and Nas are cool…We all from the same hood…We had our lil differences but we still cool."  That’s funny P, ‘cuz you just called him Milkshake like 5 minutes ago on SOHH. Also, if you saw this (which would mean your like 14, but whatever), did you notice how they both had this ‘please believe me’ look when they said they weren’t offended by Piggy Bank?

The Ghostface Killah Doll. No, seriously. Features include:

• Real 14 karat gold chain
• Real GFK Robe
• Each doll will include a Ghostface Killah Doll mixtape by a world-famous DJ tba
• Real 14 karat gold avenging eagle accessory (extra)
• Each collector will have a 1 in 500 chance to spend a day with Ghostface Killah himself
• Each Doll will come in a limited edition gold sealed box
• Ghostface Killah is fully involved in all aspects of the project from manufacturing to promotion
• Each Doll speaks original recordings of Ghostface Killah catch-phrases

Sounds good right? What every Ghost fan needs in their life? Too bad it looks nothing like The God. I love that one of the ‘catchphrases’ the doll recites is: "Yo bitch, I fucked your friend, yeah you stank ho!" Ghost really is for the children.