Kanye West Debuts At #1
Do you remember the time when rap was not a profitable industry to be involved in? Sure, there were rappers who ended scoring huge record deals with labels like Sony (who simply wanted a part of the profits), but some of the realest rappers out there did not have a cash advance or a huge budget to work with. They only had their thoughts and their lyrics to spit out over a recording. I mean, if you look at some of these early rap videos, they weren’t driving around in nice cars or big mansions – they were wearing the same clothing they wore on the streets and driving old cars that were fixed up rather than bought. The iconic image of the poor rapper is not so iconic anymore. When you look at album sales for rap music, it is clear that only a few artists out there are reaping in profits from their work. These are the household names such as Kanye West and Jay-Z, who spend millions in order to release a record, only to make those millions of dollar back, and more. It is quite polarized for these kinds of artists who tend to dominate the sales industry and have no problem promoting themselves. http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2013/06/kayne-west-debuts-at-1-as-weekly-sales-rebound-.html