1) Drake Take Care (Cash Money/Universal)

2) Kanye West & Jay Z Watch The Throne (Def Jam)

3) Gangrene Vodka & Ayahuasca (Decon)

4) Busdriver Beaus $ Eros  (Fake Four Inc.)

5) Blu & Exile  Below The Heavens (Fat Beats)

This week's hip-hop chart from the Hollywood Amoeba store reflects the state of the current hip-hop market - one in which many titles have a long shelf life including the most recent releases from both Drake (Take Care on Cash Money/Universal) and Kanye West & Jay Z (Watch The Throne on Def Jam) - two major label releases that were originally released in early November and August respectively but have been steadily selling/charting ever since. Meantime another steady seller is  Blu & Exile's  Below The Heavens on Fat Beats which is technically a five year old album but, due to public demand, was reissued recently. The other two album entrants on the new hip-hop chart are the 2012 releases from both LA alt hip-hop talent  Busdriver (Beaus $ Eros on Fake Four Inc. featuring the Loden produced track below "Kiss Me Back To Life") and Gangrene's Vodka & Ayahuasca on Decon.  Featuring Oh No and Alchemist Gangrene are pretty darn good and this is one recommended album; one of those records that you hear something new in every time you play it. 

            

Drake ~ The Motto Featuring Lil Wayne & Tyga (Official Video) from OctobersVeryOwn on Vimeo.

For ever-popular rap star Drake's latest, brand new video, released yesterday, for "The Motto" featuring Lil Wayne and Tyga, the top selling artist whose recently released second album Take Care (from where this song is culled as a bonus track) went straight to number one on the Billboard pop album charts (and #1 at Amoeba too the week it was released last month) travels to the Bay Area.

 The video is an homage to the Bay in general and in particular to Mac Dre (the late great Vallejo rapper born Andre Hicks whose mom Wanda Salvatto appears at the beginning of video) and some other Bay Area landmarks including Amoeba Music San Francisco at the 1:10 mark in the above video - making it the latest in a long line of music videos, movies, and TV commercials to feature Amoeba Music. 

Drake's new excellent video features lots of other Bay landmarks (a lot of footage shot on Treasure Island) and familiar rap figures including E-40 and Drake lovingly shouts out Mac Dre and even paraphrases some of his music ("Feelin Myself") in the song/video. You can buy Drake's Take Care on CD and also Take Care on vinyl from Amoeba Music.

                         Amoeba Music Hollywood Hip-Hop Top Five Week Ending 11:23:11


1) Drake Take Care (Cash Money/Universal)

2)  Childish Gambino Camp (Glass Note)

3) Kanye West & Jay Z Watch The Throne (Def Jam)

4) J Cole Cole World (Columbia)

5) Pusha T Fear of God II: Let Us Pray (Fontana)

Special thanks to Ray Ricky Rivera at the Amoeba Music Hollywood store for this week's Amoeba Hip Hop Chart which includes for the second week in a row Drake in number one slot with his latest, the artist's second album, Take Care on Cash Money/Universal which is also doing extremely well on a national level having similarly topped with a bullet the latest Billboard Top 200 Album charts, selling an impressive 700,000 units (a lot by today's standards), which were announced today (November 23rd). Late last night the artist known as Drizzy was so happy with the news of debuting at number one that he Tweeted to fans  "I can't even find the words to express my appreciation. ... 'Thank you and I owe you' is all that comes to mind ... truly."

1) The Roots How I Got Over (Def Jam)

2) Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son of Chico Dusty (Def Jam)

3) Nas + Damian Marley Distant Relatives  (Republic)

4) Eminem Recovery (Aftermath, Interscope, Shady)

5) Drake Thank Me Later (Cash Money Records)

Only released three days ago (July 6th), Big Boi's anticipated new album Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son of Chico Dusty on Def Jam Recordings, is already at number two on the Amoeba Music Berkeley chart. The 15 track CD also comes in a CD+DVD Deluxe Edition. The Atlanta hip-hop artist is best known as one-half of OutKast and this is his first solo album, so expectations are high. Big Boi has morphed into his Sir Lucious Left Foot alter ego on the new record. As DJ Inti at Amoeba Berkeley accurately points out in the video clip below, generally it is Big Boi's more accessible (and arguably more gifted, lyrically at least) OutKast partner Andre 3000 who gets the most light shed upon him, inevitably upstaging Big Boi's more subtle talents.

Over two years in the making, Sir Lucious was initially slated to come out on Jive Records, but Big Boi was reportedly unhappy with their marketing plan, or rather, lack thereof, and hence he switched to Def Jam. Sir Lucious is by no means a total departure from OutKast -- in fact, not only does Andre 3000 produce a track ("You Ain't No DJ"), but also the overall sound carries that same OutKast vibe and feel, with the Dungeon Family (including the return of Joi) fully representing on the album and featuring Organized Noize (including Sleepy Brown, who also does vocals) & Mr. DJ supplying some production. Others on the record include Salaam Remi (who has worked with such artists as Nas and the Fugees), the Boom Boom Room productions crew, and the hot up-and-coming producer Boi-1da who also lent production to Drake's album Thank Me Later (this week's #5 on the Amoeba chart) on the track "Best I Ever Had" (see video below).

1) Eminem Recovery (Aftermath, Interscope, Shady)

2) The Roots How I Got Over (Def Jam)

3) Drake Thank Me Later (Cash Money Records)

4) Nas + Damian Marley Distant Relatives  (Republic)

5) Vinnie Paz Season of the Assassin (Enemy Soil)

As witnessed by this week's Amoeba Hollywood hip-hop chart, with repeat appearances of several recent hip-hop albums, there are some strong 2010 summer releases. One of these top records is Eminem's Recovery, which all agree is a better album than last year's Relapse. That 2009 release was originally meant to be the prequel to Recovery but then the artist changed that plan after wishing to distance himself from what he admitted was an inferior product. Another release that should remain on the charts throughout the summer is The Roots' recommended latest How I Got Over. It's a great release from an equally great band, who, thanks to being the house band for the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show over the past year, are getting wider exposure than ever before. A few weekends ago in Philly on June 5th the band hosted their 3rd Annual Roots Picnic with performances from Vampire Weekend, Jay Electronica, Mayer Hawthorne, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, The Foreign Exchange, Clipse, and hometown hip-hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff, to name but a few. The band themselves also played, of course, and by all accounts it was the best Picnic yet. See video of the event below and read a report here.