1) Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.D City  (Aftermath)

2) Meek Mill Dreams and Nightmares (Warner)

3) Sean Price  Mic Tyson (Duck Down Records)

4) Vinnie Paz God Of The Serengeti (Enemy Soil)

5) Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 (Atlantic)

Hard to believe that it is already mid November, just a week away from Black Friday Record Store Day, and a little over six weeks to 2013! For me this year has flown by but along the way 2012 has blessed us with a bounty of non-stop, quality hip-hop releases from such artists as Saigon, Homeboy Sandman, El-P, Aesop Rock, Casual, Killer Mike, and Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid M.A.A.D City  on Aftermath which is number one on the Amoeba chart for the third straight week in a row.  Other releases on this week's hip-hop top five, courtesy of the Hollywood Amoeba store, include Vinnie Paz's God Of The Serengeti (on Enemy Soil), Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 on Atlantic), as well as the two brand new chart entries from Meek Mill (Dreams and Nightmares on Warner Brothers) and Sean Price (Mic Tyson on Duck Down Records).

1) Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.D City  (Aftermath)

2) Macklemore The Heist (Macklemore LLC)

3) P.O.S. We Don't Even Live Here (Rhymesayers)

4) Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 (Atlantic)

5) MellowHype Numbers (Columbia/3 Ent)

This latest hip-hop top five chart from the San Francisco Amoeba store includes many of the same new releases that have been selling well in recent weeks at both the Berkeley and Hollywood Amoeba stores including Odd Future spinoff MellowHype Numbers , Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 - the sequel to the Chicago emcee's 2006 debut Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, and Kendrick Lamar's universally popular major label debut Good Kid M.A.A.D City   on his mentor Dr. Dre's Aftermath label via Interscope. The album, which looks set to bring Compton back to the center of the rap map, is not only extremely popular at each of the Amoeba stores where it went straight to number one since its recent release but also across the nation. It debuted at No. 1 on both Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop and rap albums charts, and at No. 2 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart (Taylor Swift's latest mega-hit Red edged it out for the number one pop chart position).

1) J. Cole Cole World: The Sideline Story (Roc Nation)

2) Evidence Cats & Dogs (Rhymesayers Ent.)

3) 9th Wonder The Wonder Years (It's A Wonderful World Music Group)

4) Madlib No.12-Raw Medicine-Madlib Remixes (Stones Throw)

5) Blu Open (Nature Sounds)

Thanks for this week's Amoeba Hollywood hip-hop chart go to hip-hop recording artist & recent dad Ray Ricky Rivera (aka RRR) who really looks quite well rested (as you can see in above video) despite his sleep patterns been drastically altered of late -ever since he and his wife Lily had their young son Diego born a little over two months ago. Again congrats man! As RRR mentions the number one album at Amoeba, which is also the number one top selling album (of all genres) in the country this week, is the brand new J. Cole album Cole World: The Sideline Story on Roc Nation. In close second is supertalented LA hip-hop artist Evidence who came to fame as part of Dilated Peoples and is now down with the revered Rhymesayers crew with whom he was touring recently and who just released his recommended new album Cats And Dogs which also comes in a vinyl format. Another LA hip-hop treasure, Madlib, is among the other entrants in this week's Top Five (with Medicine Show #12) which is rounded out by releases from both 9th Wonder (The Wonder Years) and Blu (Open).

1) Lupe Fiasco Lasers (Atlantic) CD

Love him or hate him, Lupe Fiasco’s new one was last week’s best seller by far, selling out the first day we received it and steadily moving units since. Lasers has apparently been disowned by Lupe himself in interviews, which is somewhat of a testament to his testy personality, but he’s clearly tapped into a special realm of the pop music spectrum if he can appeal to Top 40 crowds and seasoned rap listeners alike.

2) Talib Kweli Gutter Rainbows (3D/Javotti Media) CD

Back in stock! I wrote up a bit on this one the other week, but it was out of stock for a sec and now that it’s back on the shelves it’s moving quick. Talib Kweli’s latest is his first independently released solo project in a minute, boasting production from the likes of Oh No, Marco Polo, S1, and Khrysis amongst others. Gutter Rainbows is one crafted for Talib’s long-time fans for sure.

3) Blu Amnesia (Nature Sounds) 10”

New limited 10” single from everybody’s favorite new school West Coast MC, Blu. Taken from his upcoming full length HerFavoriteColour, which was released as a download a while back but is now newly remastered and available to the DJs on wax. The title track and two additional songs on this 10” highlight not only Blu’s natural flow, but also his interesting lo-fi soulful production. Limited and smooth as hell.