Friday (April 21) marked the one-year anniversary of Prince’s heavenly ascension and since his departure from Earth at age 57, his catalog has raked in 7.7 million in sales according to Nielsen Music, Billboard reports.
The majority of those sales, totaling 5.65 million, accumulated in the month following Prince’s death at his Paisley Park home in Chanhassen, Minnesota last year between April 21 and May 19, 2016.
Fans of the eclectic musician purchased 2.3 million copies of his various albums and 5.4 million songs were digitally downloaded.
Naturally outshining every artist, even in death, Prince sold more albums than every recording artist in 2016 including Drake and Adele, who pushed 2.23 million copies.
One of his albums, The Very Best of Prince, landed at #8 on Neilson Music’s Top 10 Selling Albums of 2016 with a total of 668,000 units sold. This was followed by Purple Rain (498,000) and 1999 (169,000) among many more of his musical masterpieces.
His signature cut “Purple Rain” sold the most copies out of all his recorded numbers with 621,000 downloads and unapologetically re-entered the Billboard charts at #17, eventually making its way up to #4 after his tragic demise. Prince’s cherished hits “Little Red Corvette,” Let’s Go Crazy” and “Kiss” sold between 335,000-345,000 units respectively.
The “Pop Life” performer’s posthumous greatest hits project 4ever dropped November 20, 2016 and scanned 67,000 copies.
Upon his death, TIDAL was the only streaming service that had exclusive rights to The Purple One’s catalog. Earlier this year, access to his music became readily available to music mavens everywhere who subscribe to Apple Music and Spotify.
Brooklyn, NY – Festival season is just getting started and as the second weekend of Coachella arrives, the 13th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival announces its 2017 lineup.
The whole event, put on by Brooklyn Bodega, Inc., goes from July 10 through 16. DMX and The LOX will be headlining the affair with the finale concert on July 15. OSHUN, Mister Cee and Stretch & Bobbito will also take the stage. Rob Swift returns as resident DJ.
On July 14, Dreamville’s Bas, Cozz and Omen will perform while fans can walk through the “Brooklyn’s Finest” art gallery. Sickamore will also host a photo exhibit showcasing the work of Kerim The DJ and DJ Midnite.
The rest of the week will feature a new addition to the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, #ForTheCulture Conversations. Rakim will join the event’s founder, Wes Jackson, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Paid in Full. Later, industry guru Julian Mitchell will share his advice on how to create and monetize a personal brand. The Combat Jack Show will also be broadcasting live as part of the series.
Tickets are on sale now at eventbrite.com.
Check out the flier for the 2017 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival below.
2017 @bkhiphopfest announcement is out. Cop your tix today for that Early Bird Discount. http://bit.ly/BHF17Tix. Stay tuned for more announcements
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San Francisco, CA – As the vinyl reissue of Dr. Octagon’s 1996 magnum opus, Dr. Octagonecologyst, inches closer to its May 5 release date, the excitement from die-hard Kool Keith, Dan The Automator and DJ QBert fans is palpable. The album is a certified classic in the books of many Hip __hop connoisseurs and with the new edition of the record, people will also be privy to five previously unreleased tracks. The trio recently performed Dr. Octagon material live for the first time ever at two shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Dan The Automator was surprisingly shocked at the warm reception.
“It was crazy because we didn’t advertise,” Dan The Automator tells HipHopDX. “We put up two posts on Instagram with no real official stuff and both shows sold out in three hours. The demand was a lot higher than we thought. We knew we were going to do shows, but we didn’t know how people would react. These places were small — like 600 to 700 people. We knew we needed it to do well. We underestimated. We probably could have done 2,000, but we didn’t know.”
Now that the Handsome Boy Modeling School alum is aware of the amount of people out there itching for more of Dr. Octagon, the trio is planning on doing additional live shows in the near future. He also confirmed that new material from Dr. Octagon is apparently not too far off from being unleashed. However, he admits dropping a full album is not as simple as it used to be.
“There are new [Dr. Octagon] songs — let’s put it that way,” Dan says. “Releasing an album is all convoluted and complicated these days. Personally, I think singles are the only way. You kind of waste an album if you put it out there because you get the same amount of press and impact with a single. Maybe we’re going back to a ‘50s and ‘60s vibe where everyone just makes 45s.”
Considering he comes from an era when crafting an entire album was a meticulous labor of love and actually held more value than a download or MP3, he confesses it’s a bit disheartening that tangible records have become less impactful.
“It hurts the work part,” he says. “Guys like me and [Prince] Paul who have concepts, it doesn’t translate as well with singles. We’re all still figuring that out. We want to make records. I want to listen to one front to back, but we have to figure out how to market that.”
For now, Dan The Automator is focused on his upcoming show with Qbert in Denver this weekend and will presumably be jumping in the studio again soon with Kool Keith, who he says is “dead serious” when he’s working.
“He’s a stream of consciousness rapper, so sometimes it doesn’t work,” he says. “But when it does, it’s fucking amazing.”
Check out an image of the Dr. Octagon vinyl reissue above and pre-order it here.
Indio, CA – Although no official reunion was announced, ,Jurassic 5 has been touring as a collective again for the last four years. In fact, the Hip __hop aficionados actually performed at Coachella in 1999, which is where DJ Nu-Mark popped up again last weekend.
@Coachella friends come visit me tonight @HeinekenHouse 9-10PM (Sat. 4-15) lots of treats planned! #coachella #coachella2017
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While catching up with the talented turntablist at the artist compound, Nu-Mark spoke about his upcoming headlining set at The Heineken House. “I’m going to try to fit in as many genres as I can,” he said. “I’m going to stay away from one genre.”
Thanks for chopping it up with us, DJ Nu-Mark 🙏🏽 #Jurassic5 #Coachella
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If fans were unable to catch the DJ live, they have another chance. Nu-Mark is teaming up with Method Man on his new show, Drop The Mic.
“James Corden has a segment on his late night show called ‘Drop The Mic,’ where celebrities rhyme against each other,” he explained. “It’s hilarious. Like Kevin Hart battles someone. . . it’s really funny. They did a spin-off show on TBS, where Method Man is the host, the co-host is Hailey Baldwin, and I’m the DJ.”
The show is set to premiere next month in May.
“They’re taking the writing really funny,” he said. “It’s really funny. It’s good. I’m up there with all my toys, too. So it’s crazy. It’s gonna be insane.”
When asked about his recent “Zodiac Tracks” series, Nu-Mark made sure to explain it can be viewed visually, too.
“It’s a live video,” he said. “I put it on SoundCloud as well. It’s really about paying homage to all the great artists that influenced me. So I gather artists in specific Zodiac signs, like I just finished Aries. Did cats like Q-Tip, Chance The Rapper and a bunch of the other artists. And I mix all those artists using all vinyl in a video setting on my Facebook. Then I take it down in seven days.”
To this day, he continues to experience legal woes when it comes to the art of DJing and admits Facebook might even eliminate his page.
“They’re threatening to take my whole page down, ‘cause it’s not my material,” he said, laughing. “And record companies still don’t believe in the word ‘promotion’ I guess. I don’t know. They should know the numbers that I’m pulling. I’m just giving them sales.”
Nu-Mark also spoke on how turntablism has evolved since his time.
“I think a lot of cats are incorporating Serato now into their turntable sets, as far as turntablism, as far as doing tricks,” he said. “Whereas back then, it was purely vinyl, and containing copies of two pieces of an artist, so doubles of everything. There’s more incorporation of electronic music in turntablism today.
“There was one toy that I saw called Music Blocks that just blew me away,” he continued. “It was incredible. It’s a toy that sounds like a SP-1200. I just kind of thought that if this toy sounds that dope, then there must be a ton of other toys are incredible. I just started collecting new toys, older ones all the way from the ‘60s — all the way up. Then at one point I was like, ‘What would happen if I just filled the whole stage with toys and make a whole set out of it?’ Seven years later, I’m still touring off that kind of stuff.”
Atlanta rap titan Clifford “T.I.” Harris has branched out into a more politically charged mind state as of late — he dropped the Us Or Else EP in September 2016, broached the subject of police brutality in the striking video for “Black Man” with Quavo, Meek Mill and RaRa, and even participated in an New York City protest on November 9 after Trump was officially elected.
Although he’s not aiming to get into politics any time soon, he does believe Tupac Shakur would have been the perfect candidate. After Mr. Harris honored the slain legendary rapper at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony, where Shakur was being inducted, he spoke to Billboard about the endless possibilities had Shakur not been murdered in 1996.
“Anything could have happened with ‘Pac, man,” Tip said. “Just his diverse intellect, and the way he thought outside the box could have led him anywhere in life. He may have gotten into politics by now. Who knows?”
Despite his intention to stay out of public office, the Grand Hustle boss did offer plenty of poignant advice for those wanting to get involved in making a difference in the world, which he believes starts at home.
“Get involved with local elections,” he said. “Find out who your local politicians are and hold them accountable to create substance within the community.
“I’m not a politician,” he added. “If I can use my influence for the best for someone else, who I feel is deserving, I would do that, but I am not a politician. I’m too motivated.”
While T.I. continues pushing his new Hustle Gang artist, RaRa, working on his VH1 show, T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle, and preparing to drop more music of his own, there’s a sense he won’t stop being vocal about his stance on politics any time soon. Catch the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony April 29 on HBO.
