S. Samuel
New York rapper Angel Haze is hoping 2014 brings in a lot of happiness and possibly more respectable record sales as reports claim her recently leaked Dirty Gold LP sold under 1,000 copies in its opening week last month.
According to reports, Haze’s long-awaited release sold just over 850 albums in its first seven days of availability.
Angel Haze has defended the first week UK sales of her debut album. The rapper released her first collection Dirty Gold on December 30 after temporarily leaking the set online in order to bring forward its availability. The collection was originally scheduled for a March release, but Haze wasn’t willing to wait after facing a handful of delays. Dirty Gold went on to sell 857 copies during its first week on release, when it was only available as a digital download. (Digital Spy)
Rather than stress out, Haze has taken an upbeat approach to the initial sales.
“[My label said they] didn’t expect it to sell like 15,000 in the first week because I decided to drop it in the last week of December where only heavy hitters make the final sales,” she said. “They said yeah, your first week sales are going to be shit but in the coming weeks we’ll see them increase and it’s cool. When I said I wanted to go for December 30 because I didn’t want to not keep my word to my fans, I knew that that would result in thousands of my fans still not knowing that the album was out because they’ve seen the March release [online] and it’s confusing.” (Music Week)
She also acknowledged being prepared for potentially low first-week Dirty Gold numbers.
“I knew I was going to have to play catch up and bring everyone up to speed on what’s going on and do all the extra work and I was okay with that. It means I won’t sell as much in the first few weeks and it doesn’t bother me. It’s a lot of work but I never set myself up for anything I’m not prepared for.” (Music Week)
The 22-year-old unleashed some fury toward her record label in an extensive Twitter rant last month before leaking her album and finally receiving a December 30 release date.
“It’s so annoying that my label could tell me that if I f*cking finished my album before the summer it would be out this year. I have gone to bat for this music. I have gone to bat for myself. I have literally sat f*cking sleepless and starved crying over this sh*t. I turned down so much sh*t to be sure that I could finish this album because actually wanting something to me means doing all you can to be. Sure that it’s attainable. I stopped arguing my point. Stopped giving a f*ck about everything. Let these other ditsy b*tches disrespect me. I turned my f*cking cheek because MUSIC IS ALL I F*CKING HAVE…and I know that’s the same for some of you. I did everything I could for you. I did not promise an album and not deliver, unlike every f*cking one else. I sat my a** down and came up with this music WHEN I HAD NOTHING.” (Angel Haze’s Twitter)
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