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Rhymefest Not Too Happy with Blue Collar's Numbers
It's not everyday that you get to hear an artist open up on how well-received or poorly-received their album has been, especially if the latter is the case. Despite a measurable amount of promotion and publicity, Rhymefest's debut, Blue Collar, only sold a measly 15,000 units in its first week. Here's what 'Fest had to say on his blog:
As we all know by now, my highly-anticipated and critically-acclaimed debut album BLUE COLLAR sold about 15,000 copies during the first week. As it stands now in the mass-marketing, single-driven genre of Hip-Hop music, this is considered a flop or a failure. Or is it?
-Akon, the well-known R&B star, sold about 5,000 copies his first week. And now, he holds a platinum plaque for his debut album TROUBLE.
-Lyfe Jennings: 6,000 copies his first week; also platinum.
-Maroon 5: 3,000 copies their first week; now multi-platinum.
While none of these artists that I named are rappers, they all understood the ingredients for success:
1)good music,
2)touring & great stage shows,
3)humble attitudes (checking their ego at the door), and finally
4)never giving up.
Well, not that we actually recommend it, but, I wonder if Rhymefest ever heard of this thing known as payola. That's one avenue some rappers have been using to boost sales for decades. Rhymefest goes on to declare that "35,000 Rhymefest records sold hold more power than 1 Million Laffy Taffy records." No arguments there. Read the entire blog entry...
