1) Fabolous Loso's Way (Desert Storm/Def Jam)

2) Mos Def The Ecstatic (Downtown)

3) Dudley Perkins Holy Smokes (1 AM APPROACH)

4) Psycho Realm A War Story: Book 1 (Sick Symphonies)

5) Chali 2na Fish Outta Water (Decon)

Brooklyn, New York rapper Fabolous is back with a bang. His fifth and latest album, Loso's Way on Desert Storm/Def Jam, is this week's number one new hip-hop album at the Hollywood Amoeba Music store this week. Like Jay-Z [who, incidentally, appears here on the track "Money Goes, Honey Stay" (When the Money Goes Remix)] and his American Gangster record, the new Fab album also comes complete with a gangster movie inspired theme. Loso's Way is based on Carlito's Way. And the "Deluxe Edition" of Loso's Way comes complete with a DVD of the half-hour plus movie of the same name that is reportedly a semi-autobiographical film. The film also draws many parallels with the original movie character Al Pacino plays in Carlito's Way.

1) Eyedea & Abilities By The Throat (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

2) Awol One & Factor Owl Hours (Fake Four Inc)

3) Twista Category F5 (GMG/Get Money Gang/EMI)

4) Yukmouth The West Coast Don (Smoke-A-Lot/RBC Records)

5) Biz Markie Ultimate Diabolical (Traffic Entertainment)

6) MHZ Table Scraps (Man Bites Dog Records)

Classic Hip-Hop Album Reissue:

The Beastie Boys Ill Communication (Capitol) (originally released in '94 -- extra tracks)

Super-duper thanks to Luis -- the hip-hop buyer at Amoeba Music San Francisco -- for providing this week's Top Six chart of the new hip-hop sellers at the Haight Street store, in both text and video formats. In the number one slot with a bullet is the new By The Throat album from Eyedea & Abilities, on which Michael "Eyedea" Larsen (aka Oliver Hart) demonstrates the mad mic skills that won him his rep as a killer freestyle battle rapper. Meanwhile, his partner, DMC champ DJ Abilities (Gregory Keltgen), has truly come into his own as a powerful producer with turntable skills to match. Fans of the duo should note that they are on the Rock The Bells tour, which will be stopping in SoCal at the San Manuel Amphitheatre in San Bernardino on August 8th and in the Bay Area the next day, August 9th, at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.

Whew, another Record Store Day has been and gone at Amoeba San Francisco, and what a whirlwind it was! The special international holiday created to celebrate the independent record store in all its resplendent glory brought with it special guest DJs galore, prize giveaways and, of course, mega-limited special edition releases by popular, record store-lovin' artists.

Over at the Haight Street store we had a salivating group of customers waiting with bated breath outside our doors for 10:30 am to finally arrive. When the doors opened at last, there was a mad rush for the limited edition 7"s, vinyl, CDs and DVDs that artists such as Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Metric, The Flaming Lips, and many more had released in honor of RSD. We sold through almost everything within just a few hours -- some, like the Jesus Lizard singles collection, went in mere minutes! Employees worked like barkers, calling out artists' releases and getting them to the frantic masses as quickly as possible. The Information Counter was lit up with zillions of phone calls, checking on the status of any number of artists' special releases.


At noon we began our giveway drawings, ably hosted by our own spirited Zack, who took to the intercom with game show host-like zeal. Various customers won $50 gift certificates and their choice of a myriad of prizes, including Guitar Hero and a special prize pack from heaviest heavy rock label Southern Lord. These giveaways were met with cheers and screams of delight, both from being caught up in the moment and encouraged by their host!