When I praised Atmosphere’s When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Sh*t Gold as the year’s best rap album, hardly did I expect anyone to agree with me. I was simply following my conviction. If anything, I expected chants of “Emo! Emo!!” or something to that effect. Turns out 35,000 others echoed my sentiments.

According to Billboard, Lemons has set a new first-week sales record for Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Hip-hop artist Atmosphere easily scores his best sales and chart week ever as “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Sh*t Gold” (Rhymesayers) starts at No. 5 with 36,000. His previous charting high-water mark came from 2005’s “You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having,” which peaked at No. 66. “When Life…” also becomes the highest-charting album for the Rhymesayers label; the previous best was, again, Atmosphere’s stop at No. 66.

Yeah, you read that right. Billboard just addressed Atmosphere as an individual. Funny stuff.

As if it’s not bad enough that Afeni Shakur and Suge Knight have made a hobby out of releasing half-assed posthumous 2Pac albums, heaven knows why they chose to release the latest one as two separate CDs with two different themes. Did it ever occur to them that Shakur is best consumed as ThugLife? The one billed Best of 2Pac, Pt. 2: Thug shifted a mere 22,500 units, but it outsold the Life side by 3,600 units. This implies that people are more drawn to the grimier side of Pac’s music. And you wonder why there’s a proliferation of pseudo gangstas in the game.

Anyhoo, Pac’s Greatest Hits CD wasn’t the only new rap album that debuted this week. Here’s how the rest of them performed on the chart: (more…)

Timbaland proves he’s more than just a Piano Man. No, wait! That’s Scorch Storch.

#5. Timbaland - Timbaland Presents Shock Value - 138,331
#6 Beyonce - B’Day - 125,974 (2,499,246) (Up from No.69 LW)
#8. Paul Wall - Get Money Stay True - 92, 510
#9. Akon - Konvicted - 74,643 12 66,844 2,073,593
#17 Young Buck - Buck the World - 55,364 (196,447)
#21. Mims - Music Is My Savior45,740 (123,589)
#35. Rich Boy - Rich Boy - 31,022 (223,766)
#57. Lil’ Flip - I Need Mine(2CD) 18,308 (61,755)
#64. Young Jeezy - The Inspiration - 16,917 (1,000,761)
#66. Redman - Red Gone Wild 16,910 (61,474)
#69. Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children - 16,125 (277,611)
#186. Nas - Hip-Hop Is Dead 8,985 (701,644)

Five singles, five videos, and five arrests in damn near five months, yet Snoop is still chasing Game’s numbers.

#200. Snoop Dogg Tha Blue Carpet Treatment - 5,361 (840,990)
#200. The Game - Doctor’s Advocate - 5,361 (904,599)

We’ve watched a litany of exciting rap releases gush out the gate in the last 2 weeks or so. You won’t believe which ones are not flying off the shelves…

#3. Young Buck - Buck the World - 140,250
#4. Mims - Music Is My Savior - 77,596
#5. Akon - Konvicted - 66,844 (1,998,950)
#13. Redman - Red Gone Wild - 44,356
#14. Lil’ Flip - I Need Mine(2CD) - 43,296
#24. Rich Boy - Rich Boy - 31,778 (192,744)
#32. Prodigy - Return of the Mac - 26,768
#71. Devin the Dude - Waitin’ to Inhale - 12,105 (37,738)
#77. Tha Dogg Pound - Dogg Chit - 11,615
#174.EL-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead - 5,008 (16,425)

As you can see, Cris has been steadily climbing back up the chart lately, thanks to an undeserved win for Best Rap Album at the Wammys.

(4) 11. Akon - Konvicted - 69,751 (1,569,843)
(32) 37. Young Jeezy - The Inspiration - 28,302 (858,445)
(111) 44. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere - 26,672 (1,232,070)
(65) 48. Ludacris - Release Therapy - 22,867 (1,083,957)
(48) 60. Eminem - Eminem Presents: The Re-Up - 18,639 (873,146)
(53) 62. Nas - Hip-Hop Is Dead - 17,814 (633,803)
(56) 67. Jay-Z - Kingdom Come - 16,144 (1,351,775)
(55) 69. Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children - 15,935 (160,562)
(54) 70. Birdman & Lil’ Wayne - Like Father Like Son - 15,774 (619,741)
(59) 73. Snoop Dogg - Blue Carpet Treatment - 14,963 (782,147)
(79) 76. Game - Doctor’s Advocate - 13,874 12 (847,441)
(999) 84. JR Writer - Writer’s Block 4 - 12,926 12,965
(86) 86. Bow Wow -Price of Fame - 12,516 (420,522)
(118) 100. Diddy - Press Play - Press Play - 10,797 (531,099)
(152) 137. T.I. KING - 7,565 (1,629,604)

Someone please explain this Jeezy/Eminem phenomenon to me. Who’s buying these albums?

(LW) TW. Artist - Album - TW (Total Sales)
(6)4. Akon - Konvicted 64,643 (1,500,092)
(26) 32. Young Jeezy - The Inspiration 27,821 (830,143)
(41) 48. Eminem Presents: The Re-Up - 18,896 (854,507)
(50) 53. Nas - Hip-Hop Is Dead - 17,552 (615,989)
(52) 54. Birdman & Lil Wayne - Like Father Like Son - 16,870 (603,967)
(96) 55. Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children - 16,727 (144,627)
(54) 56. Jay-Z - Kingdom Come - 16,660 (1,335,631)
(49) 59. Snoop Dogg - Blue Carpet Treatment 16,333 (767,184)
(70) 65 Ludacris - Release Therapy 13,966 (1,061,090)
(82) 79 The Game - Doctor’s Advocate 12,417 (833,567)
(71) 86 Bow Wow - Price of Fame 11,113 (408,006)
(137) 111. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere 9,127 (1,205,398)
(116) 118. Diddy - Press Play 8,339 (520,302)
(113) 122. Lil Scrappy - Bred 2 Die Born 2 Live 8,181 (223,623)
(126) 132. Jim Jones - Hustler’s P.O.M.E. 7,048 (332,355)
(144) 141. Jibbs - Jibbs 6,497 (232,972)
(134) 142. Tupac - Pac’s Life 6,340 (392,959)
(180) 199. Fat Joe - Me Myself & I 4,711 (164,288)