Is the Hip Hop Industry Dirtier Than the Dope Game?

Janet Jackson's "Discipline" (Island Def Jam), last week's Billboard 200 topper, falls 1-3 with 57,000, a 68% hit. "4th World War," the first half of Erykah Badu's double album series "New Amerykah," descends 2-6 with 41,000 (-67%). Alicia Keys' "As I Am" (J) falls 5-8 with 38,000. At number 11, Webbies comes in this week with 28,252 albums sold.

Further down the charts, the usual suspects of Soulja Boy, Kanye West and Jay-Z all remained active on the charts, as Lupe Fiasco continues to prove his consistent success, with The Cool coming in at #35, but Food & Liquor also scanning over a 1,000 units this week on the Rap/Hip Hop Top 100. His partial label-mate Shawty Lo did not fare as well, dropping significantly from a strong start last week. Cult favorite Joe Budden is also making a convincing argument that albums made off of mixtapes are suffering in the marketplace, despite rave reviews. His Amalgam Digital retail release has yet to find position in the Top 200. Joe Budden comes in this week with 734 copies sold! Sales this week are down 3.5% from last week at 7.68 million units and down 11.3% from the same week last year.