S. Samuel
G-Unit leader 50 Cent has become the latest hip-hop artist to share his reaction to Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV recently selling nearly a million copies in its opening week, labeling the numbers as "suspect".
In 50’s eyes, Wayne’s album sales jumped tremendously from its initial projections.
When we mentioned Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV almost selling a million albums in the first week, 50 let us know immediately that he wasn’t buying the numbers. “To be honest with you, the Lil Wayne sales are a little suspect to me. Because it was trending 600,000 pieces that week. And they didn’t do a million copies, it was like 900,000.” In regards to Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III, which sold a million copies in the first week back in 2008, 50 gives Lil Wayne his props: “Tha Carter III was definitely hot. He did that.” 50 Cent goes on to say: “Tha Carter III commanded that energy, but the last one that just came out, those numbers are funny.” (Global Grind)
Recently, Weezy even revealed his shocked reaction to nearly selling a million in seven days.
“Yeah. H*ll yeah, I’m surprised,” Wayne said when asked about his first-week sales expecations. “No. I was very surprised. I did not think I was gonna do that. I mean, I already did that–I sold a million copies the first week [of Tha Carter III]. I never imagined it would happen again. I think we’d be some greedy motherf*ckers to expect it to happen again, and I’m still shocked that it did.” (GQ)
Around mid-October, Young Money’s Drake weighed in on Tha Carter IV‘s retail success.
“I just knew he’s an icon. That’s iconic status because a lot of people would argue that it wasn’t as big as Carter III was,” Drake explained in an interview. “There was no ‘Lollipop,’ there was no ‘A Milli.’ Obviously Wayne kept their attention and kept that excitement going because it takes a lot to put that many people in the stores. That is serious. That’s like diamond in a year, if we’re talking back in the day.” (“Big Boy’s Neighborhood”)
In late September, G.O.O.D. Music’s Big Sean shared his shocked reaction to Wayne’s opening week sales.
“God d*mn, you remember we were talking about how much LilWayne was going to sell,” Sean said in an interview. “I ain’t gonna lie, I thought he was going to sell [500,000]. He sold 964,000? Oh sh*t. Man. Congratulations Lil Wayne, you sh*tted on everybody again. Again…Congratulations to him. I think that’s like beautiful. That’s inspiring to me. I’m trying to sell a million the first week. Lil Wayne really worked his a** off for that. He’s been going since he was 13 with the Hot Boys to the everything.” (Rap-Up TV)
Initial first-week sales projections had the album selling up to 850,000 in its opening seven days.
Check out some past Lil Wayne footage below:
