As far as quality goes, it feels like 2015 is just warming up. While there has been great projects, there’s also been many “wtf” moments (Take Drink More Water 5 as a prime example). However, gems like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly show promise that the rest of the year won’t be so bad. After taking the average of all the reviews I’ve done so far, I rated the first quarter of 2015 as a 3: Pretty Good.
While the quality was pretty good, the sales were generally mediocre. In the past 12 weeks on Billboard (January to March), Hip-Hop has only claimed the number one spot 3 times. Individual albums haven’t had immense success, but it’s important to note that there was an influx of independent and fringe releases during this quarter. Without big names, it makes sense that sales weren’t very great. In fact Big Sean, Wale, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar were the only rappers to break 100k sales first week, with the latter 2 being the only ones to top 200k opening week. In 2012, Drake rapped, “Selling under 150 you n-ggas got to be kidding.” Maybe Drake should chill out…but he kind of has a point. As we prepare for bigger artists and bigger albums, hopefully the fans will be saving up, so they can support the artists when the time comes.
What were the best projects of the first quarter? Check out The Roshua Review’s opinion on the next page.