The projections for the albums released yesterday, December 18th, are in via HDD. And T.I. leads the way with 150-175K sold, with the other high-profile rap album coming from Chief Keef at a much tamer 50-55K. Not surprised by the numbers; good to see the King selling strong without a single that I feel was in the mainstream consciousness ("Ball" made its waves in the clubs, but I wouldn't say it's known to the very casual listener).
To recount the week that was prior: Bruno Mars' Unorthodox Jukebox debuted at #2 with 192K, Game's Jesus Piece at #5 with 87K, and Big Boi's Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors at #33 with 30K. How was Big Boi not higher?!
Dah well... The numbers are just numbers at the end of the day. It's by no means the end all, be all barometer.
When you look at the names on this track you can't help but get excited about the potential of the song, and I have to say that it lived up to the expectations. All the verses were solid, the production was dope and Kris Stephens sounded great. Make sure to go grab Trouble Man Heavy Is The Head today.
I wasn't the biggest fan of Soul when I first heard him, now every time I hear a new track from him it seems like he's getting colder. TDE has to have the strongest camp right now and Soul is furthering that belief for me right now.
The reason this song made the list this week had nothing to do with song and I want to make sure I put that out there first. The reason I put this song on the list was soley because my name was spelled out in the hook, and I imagined me leaving a club one night and the hook playing as I walked out the door. Call me what you want but everybody wishes they had some sort of theme music or exit music now I do.
I feel like this was probably the most overlooked but cold as hell song from last week. Gemstones take on December 21st and what's to come for the world period I feel like musically came across great. Regardless of what you believe something is happening in the world and shout to Gemstones for speaking on it.
Dido has great taste when it comes to the rappers that she works with, going from the amazing voice that was on Stan with Eminem now featuring Kendrick on her newest single. The song is dope as hell and K-Dot compliment the track perfectly.
That's this week list, as always let me know what you think in the comments or hit me up on Twitter.
Last week, T.I. stopped off in Chicago as part of his nationwide promo tour for Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head, and above is our informative and highly entertaining new sit-down with Julian On Da Radio!
Informative? Because T.I. reveals a couple of interesting anecdotes in relation to the album, including the one artist he had not really known before collaborating for the album. And which were some of the toughest tracks and collabs of the 127 (!) that he recorded for the album, that didn't make the final tracklist. (SPOILER: One is "Trap N****" f/ Pharrell).
Highly entertaining? Because Julian premieres a new segment called "60 Second Quickies", where he asks rapid-fire questions to Tip in 60 seconds, where he has to answer with the first thing that comes to mind. Watch and see an unfiltered T.I. be caught off guard, or have the exact answer that will make you laugh out loud.
"60 Second Quickie" Examples:
What's the largest sum of money you've ever deposited in your bank account?
Who is someone, living or dead, you would have dinner with?
What is something perfect to have on a date?
Furthermore, check out the story behind the interview that I posted last week when, literally at the conclusion of our interview, T.I. bumped into Marlon Wayans at the elevator. Crazy! It warrants mentioning that, even though T.I. was on a time crunch, he was real genuine and grateful to us and we'd like to reciprocate the same to T.I. for his time and positive energy. Gowhere You Love!
And lastly, the video also contains some footage from the Trouble Man listening party we attended later that night, and I'd be remiss not to drop some thoughts on one of my favorite artists' new album.
- Of the singles that were previewed prior to today, "Sorry" f/ Andre 3000 and "Trap Back Jumpin'" are heavy in my rotation.
- "Can You Learn" featuring R. Kelly features a strong chorus from the latter and is a track with substance that I was expecting from Kellz' other high-profile rap collab earlier this year.
- "Guns And Roses" featuring Pink will be that Billboard single that charts the highest off this album. And it's a legit one with a relatable concept (how you can't stand someone not being with you, but can't stand them when they are), some dope rhymes from Tip, and sultry vocals from Pink. Another *Tibs Fav.
- "Wonderful Life" featuring Akon is my favorite concept from T.I. on the album. In a couple of verses, he speaks to himself from the perspective of his dad, and late friend Philant Johnson. An all-caps *TIBS FAV. off that alone (and Akon does his thing as well).
- "Hallelujah" is perhaps the most left-field of records you'd expect from T.I., but when you think harder about it, it's really not. Tip channels a gospel style singer for the chorus and an appreciation to the one above! The type of feel-good record I've been vibing with the most these past few months, and a fitting conclusion to the album.
- Everyone went bananas for "Memories Back Then" featuring B.o.B & Kendrick Lamar - a track that unfortunately won't make the album with the sample that's intended (as described in my post of the download for it earlier today)
- Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head is a strong album from beginning to end, and continuing to grow on me. I hesitate to put it on the tier of Paper Trail and King, however, but as a T.I. fan since the beginning, I'm not disappointed in the album. A must-grab come tomorrow, December 18th.
This morning, T.I. let Sway premiere this bonus track off the upcoming album, Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head, dropping tomorrow. It has heavy-hitting feature verses from B.o.B & Kendrick Lamar... and this story I can tell from the Trouble Man listening party last week in Chicago... (stay tuned for our interview later today!)
This was the last track that T.I. played for us. He prefaced it by saying that it samples a song we'll all know, but the sample couldn't get clear for the album. He then added he has plans to re-work it to go around that sample with B.o.B & Kendrick Lamar for a single and that a version would be available on the iTunes version of the album.
The song that he played was different than the version above and sampled the iconic chorus (and more of the production) of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" - a perfect fit for the track as all the emcees reflect on an early girlfriend from their upbringing (somebody that they used to know...). Let me tell ya, the way everything came together for this version was an instant hit with the whole room. And flat out, better than this re-worked version released above.
I honestly just had a little moment of silence. Wishing everyone could hear that version as this one just lacks in comparison. Having said that, this stands alone as an instant *Tibs Fav. - a record you should rock in your rotation, stat. T.I. & B.o.B are candidly descriptive in their stories of past flames comin' up in school while Kendrick bats last with what many will consider the best verse of the three. Kris Stephens is on the new chorus and does a good job providing that female voice to link all the verses together. So all in all, this is already a nice track. But as you can tell, it's certainly leaving me wanting the original. Maybe that will surface as a free download sometime? *crosses fingers*
Tags for now, hopefully a CDQ hits with a better mix - will update if/when it does.
