That nigga Ice cube sells 22, 000 in first week ( or should I say , WEAK ? )

[Mietek23]

Anyone think CUBE finna jump on an interview to defend this album once he gets wind that many ain't feelin it as a strictly WEST COAST album?

Well, he kinda defended the "She Couldn't.." bullshit on his blog some time ago so I wouldn't be surprised at all

[D-Nice]

If I had a dollar for everytime I saw somebody say something bad about an artist for selling under 30K, I'd be a millionaire.

Then people have the audacity to ask me why I think people are biased to the 90's lol.

"Damn, 22K? That's mad good."

"Who cares?"

Jokes, fellas, jokes.

Exactly my point. But misery loves company. If it would have sold 100k 1st week, some people would actually say well maybe we are being too harsh on the album, look at how many people bought it. When I a album tanks it is oh well that just reaffirmed what I have been saying all along that it's wack.

[D-Nice]

So let me play devils advocate for a sec. If the album did say the same numbers as Wayne's new album, would your opinion on it change? Keep it 100 too people 

How much did waynes album sell? (I don't keep track with him). Either way it's already been talked about various times that sells don't mean shit when it comes to Quality, nor even reviews now. Course I wouldn't doubt it that if he sold much higher people would be playing it with more rotation because some people just want to listen to music that's consider "popular" instead of actually listening to it for enjoyment. :/

The quality of music being released, makes me looks towards Mixtapes more and more for better work, because the Mixtape isn't usually designed 4 the Radio, it's there 4 fans or whatever.

Either way

and The Southern Inspired single (while hated on here, is loved by the mainstream radios) is what helped the album keep it's mainstream buzz.

actually, cube stated that he didn't get radio play, because he's not on a major label, so...

Yeah, but the track is built 4 mainstream fans, even if he doesn't get Radio play the likely hood of She Couldn't Make it being heard more and DLed more buy mainstream fans wouldn't amaze me. I mean With the poor promotion that happened near the release date, I wouldn't be amazed if Ice Cube only sold Units just because of his Name alone.


Also 2 J-Funkion, yeah he did the album for fun, except the difference is he constantly promoted the album as being Straight West Coast G-Shit. He said it himself he can't help it, he made a gigantic Chin Check on the west 4 going pop and mainstream and abandoning there roots. Everything he said was on Point, and apparently this Album was suppose to back it up.

So I'm not amazed if the album is getting shat on for Merit alone. Personally with those south songs, it's made him a slight exercise in hypocrisy and that's just keeping it real. I like the album, (Even the weak joints, however if ur asking a review i'd still rip that shit apart).

All I'm waiting 4 now is Young Maylays new album & WCs. If WCs is anything like Guilty by Affiliation I'd be happy.

100k. And true on that but I see sooooo many times on these forums people be validating sales for a albums quality, good and bad.

[Dre-Day]

and The Southern Inspired single (while hated on here, is loved by the mainstream radios) is what helped the album keep it's mainstream buzz.

actually, cube stated that he didn't get radio play, because he's not on a major label, so...

Yeah, but the track is built 4 mainstream fans, even if he doesn't get Radio play the likely hood of She Couldn't Make it being heard more and DLed more buy mainstream fans wouldn't amaze me. I mean With the poor promotion that happened near the release date, I wouldn't be amazed if Ice Cube only sold Units just because of his Name alone.

true.

So let me play devils advocate for a sec. If the album did say the same numbers as Wayne's new album, would your opinion on it change? Keep it 100 too people 

probably not.
maybe i would make a sarcastic comment about the sales.

[D-Nice]

and The Southern Inspired single (while hated on here, is loved by the mainstream radios) is what helped the album keep it's mainstream buzz.

actually, cube stated that he didn't get radio play, because he's not on a major label, so...

Yeah, but the track is built 4 mainstream fans, even if he doesn't get Radio play the likely hood of She Couldn't Make it being heard more and DLed more buy mainstream fans wouldn't amaze me. I mean With the poor promotion that happened near the release date, I wouldn't be amazed if Ice Cube only sold Units just because of his Name alone.

true.

So let me play devils advocate for a sec. If the album did say the same numbers as Wayne's new album, would your opinion on it change? Keep it 100 too people 

probably not.
maybe i would make a sarcastic comment about the sales.

LOL, all good. One thing I will say about you Dre is you don't dance around the subject. You either like it or you don't and that is a good thing.

[Blue pit]

ice Cube is an O.G. He doesn't have to have huge record sales. Most of his tracks are for the True Riders, cuz. Not little bustas.

[Dre-Day]

and The Southern Inspired single (while hated on here, is loved by the mainstream radios) is what helped the album keep it's mainstream buzz.

actually, cube stated that he didn't get radio play, because he's not on a major label, so...

Yeah, but the track is built 4 mainstream fans, even if he doesn't get Radio play the likely hood of She Couldn't Make it being heard more and DLed more buy mainstream fans wouldn't amaze me. I mean With the poor promotion that happened near the release date, I wouldn't be amazed if Ice Cube only sold Units just because of his Name alone.

true.

So let me play devils advocate for a sec. If the album did say the same numbers as Wayne's new album, would your opinion on it change? Keep it 100 too people 

probably not.
maybe i would make a sarcastic comment about the sales.

LOL, all good. One thing I will say about you Dre is you don't dance around the subject. You either like it or you don't and that is a good thing.

thanks, i try to be honest, but i guess i can be a bit biased from time to time 

as you probably know, i appreciate your honesty as well.
your first reaction, after hearing the sampler of I am the west, proved this.
you're a big ice cube fan, you could have given him a pass ( not saying you would), but you didn't

by the way, check your inbox, if you haven't done so yet

[D-Nice]

and The Southern Inspired single (while hated on here, is loved by the mainstream radios) is what helped the album keep it's mainstream buzz.

actually, cube stated that he didn't get radio play, because he's not on a major label, so...

Yeah, but the track is built 4 mainstream fans, even if he doesn't get Radio play the likely hood of She Couldn't Make it being heard more and DLed more buy mainstream fans wouldn't amaze me. I mean With the poor promotion that happened near the release date, I wouldn't be amazed if Ice Cube only sold Units just because of his Name alone.

true.

So let me play devils advocate for a sec. If the album did say the same numbers as Wayne's new album, would your opinion on it change? Keep it 100 too people 

probably not.
maybe i would make a sarcastic comment about the sales.

LOL, all good. One thing I will say about you Dre is you don't dance around the subject. You either like it or you don't and that is a good thing.

thanks, i try to be honest, but i guess i can be a bit biased from time to time 

as you probably know, i appreciate your honesty as well.
your first reaction, after hearing the sampler of I am the west, proved this.
you're a big ice cube fan, you could have given him a pass ( not saying you would), but you didn't

by the way, check your inbox, if you haven't done so yet

Yeah I got it, thanks. I appreciate that. Might as well be honest about it, it is Cube's worst album by a country mile.

[Dre-Day]

you're welcome.

i may make a poll about ice cube's worst album later

[darqawa]

ice Cube is an O.G. He doesn't have to have huge record sales. Most of his tracks are for the True Riders, cuz. Not little bustas.

I gotta keep it 100, no true Rida I know is gonna ride around bumpin a song whose hook is, "Google me bitch, I told her to Google me bitch".  I don't care if the album sold 1 mil the 1st week, I ain't feelin the majority of I Am THE WEST.  I guess I'm from the Old School, where you buy a record for content, not album sales.  I ain't never bought an album cuz of soundscan.

[Blasphemy]

So let me play devils advocate for a sec. If the album did say the same numbers as Wayne's new album, would your opinion on it change? Keep it 100 too people 

How much did waynes album sell? (I don't keep track with him). Either way it's already been talked about various times that sells don't mean shit when it comes to Quality, nor even reviews now. Course I wouldn't doubt it that if he sold much higher people would be playing it with more rotation because some people just want to listen to music that's consider "popular" instead of actually listening to it for enjoyment. :/

The quality of music being released, makes me looks towards Mixtapes more and more for better work, because the Mixtape isn't usually designed 4 the Radio, it's there 4 fans or whatever.

Either way

and The Southern Inspired single (while hated on here, is loved by the mainstream radios) is what helped the album keep it's mainstream buzz.

actually, cube stated that he didn't get radio play, because he's not on a major label, so...

Yeah, but the track is built 4 mainstream fans, even if he doesn't get Radio play the likely hood of She Couldn't Make it being heard more and DLed more buy mainstream fans wouldn't amaze me. I mean With the poor promotion that happened near the release date, I wouldn't be amazed if Ice Cube only sold Units just because of his Name alone.


Also 2 J-Funkion, yeah he did the album for fun, except the difference is he constantly promoted the album as being Straight West Coast G-Shit. He said it himself he can't help it, he made a gigantic Chin Check on the west 4 going pop and mainstream and abandoning there roots. Everything he said was on Point, and apparently this Album was suppose to back it up.

So I'm not amazed if the album is getting shat on for Merit alone. Personally with those south songs, it's made him a slight exercise in hypocrisy and that's just keeping it real. I like the album, (Even the weak joints, however if ur asking a review i'd still rip that shit apart).

All I'm waiting 4 now is Young Maylays new album & WCs. If WCs is anything like Guilty by Affiliation I'd be happy.

100k. And true on that but I see sooooo many times on these forums people be validating sales for a albums quality, good and bad.

lol people who role like that need 2 check there thinking. I doesn't make sense imo.

ice Cube is an O.G. He doesn't have to have huge record sales. Most of his tracks are for the True Riders, cuz. Not little bustas.

I gotta keep it 100, no true Rida I know is gonna ride around bumpin a song whose hook is, "Google me bitch, I told her to Google me bitch".  I don't care if the album sold 1 mil the 1st week, I ain't feelin the majority of I Am THE WEST.  I guess I'm from the Old School, where you buy a record for content, not album sales.  I ain't never bought an album cuz of soundscan.

Yeah, we be rolling with stuff like "Life in California". Some of these tracks are perfect 4 cruising, I wish though he had a track that's perfect 4 parties. LNCL's Go 2 Church got mad play and was perfect 4 parties(the track and album still get heavy rotation in my playlist).

I'm wondering If he did do work with Quick and others, Will he leak it??? 

[dameons]

No Country for Young Men is a top notch track..

[So Much Style]

I agree that this was a terrible effort on Cube's part.  I only keep 5 tracks in rotation.  5 out of 16 (18 itunes bonus tracks) is not a good album, period.  I was bangin Young Maylay's The Real Coast Guard last night, thats a West Coast album.  That shit bangs from beginning to end.  The title led everyone to think it was going to be a West Coast instant classic.  Big let down, plain and simple.  KAM needs to release SELF & KIND already, DAMN!    

I am a loyal fan but garbage is garbage.

can you pmme that maylay album nukka? thanks

[Detox Is A Myth!!!]

I ain't never bought an album cuz of soundscan.

Co-sign.

And I don't know anybody who does.  Why do people say that other people buy albums just to fit in with what's popular?  I don't know anybody who bases their purchasing decisions based on what's popular.  That's a straw man argument for anybody who's trying to push that.  I'm not sure I understand Cham's argument and if it's related, but the reason why people are biased to the 90s is because the music was just plain better back then in a lot of people's opinions.  Sure, if something as groundbreaking as The Chronic were to come out today, it wouldn't push as many units as The Chronic did back in the day, but relative to other contemporary sales-numbers, it would sell well.  At the end of the day, quality wins out, relative to standard mediocrity, and consumers will reward it.  There are always exceptions to the rule (e.g. Illmatic didn't sell well), but on balance, if you really look at the numbers from a macro perspective, and if we were to compile a list of classics and look at their sales, you will see that they sold well it you were to average it out, relative to non-classic albums.  Now, you could argue that list of classics we compile is biased toward albums that sold well, because people base what they consider to be "classics" based on what were the best sellers, but, again, I don't think those same so-called classics would still be fondly heralded and remembered today if they were labelled "classics" only for their sales-numbers rather than their actual music quality.

My point is Cube made an album any rapper could have made, and rule of thumb is that if you make any old rap album, you will sell just like any old rapper.  If it weren't for Cube's loyal fan base and name recognition, he would have sold a lot worse based on the blase, mediocre, indistinguished quality of the album.

He needs to go back to having sociopolitical substance.  I laugh that he says I am the West is for his hardcore fans -- no, it's not.  His hardcore fans want sociopolitical substance, which is what made him so great and so revered in the first place.  I am the West is for the non-hardcore Cube fans.

[Chamillitary Click]

All I'm saying is, when some artists into today's game don't sell, people jump all over them for it.

I specifically remember people saying Ultimate Victory wasn't good & one of it's reasons was because it didn't sell lol. Same goes for Joe Budden's Padded Room & the Slaughterhouse album. I recall somebody saying it for Jay Rock & Bishop Lamont too. "Oh those guys will never sell".

Now Ice Cube drops an album, does awful. A hundred-thousand copies worse than his last album & people are acting like "Oh, no big deal, it's Cube. Cube is the man. Doesn't matter what he does".

& I've always had a thing where I feel that people just defend 90's artists for the fact that most of you grew up on it & feel some type of loyalty to it. & loyalty is a form of bias.

I'm not saying Cube didn't sell because the album sucks. I'm not denying the fact that he had little to absolutely no promotion. It was set-up to do poor numbers regardless of how good the content was. It's just, people are playing it off like it's "not a big deal" & some people even said those are "good numbers". Where I know for a fact if this was a Game album or Ya Boy or J. Cole & sold 22K copies, people would like "God damn, that's terrible". But Cube gets some legends pass & it disgusts me.