S. Samuel
With strong first-week sales projections on deck, G.O.O.D. Music's CyHi The Prynce recently downplayed any negative impact a Cruel Summer leak may have on his crew's new compilation album.
In CyHi’s perspective, the G.O.O.D. Music team has built a strong enough cult following where a leak is the least of their worries.
“It [feels] like my debut album,” he said. “It’s crazy ’cause I was there during most of the album. Like the creative process and you know, we started from scratch until now. So it’s like to see your girlfriend who’s pregnant have your daughter or son. You go through nine months just to see this day you know what I’m saying. People don’t understand that the leak, for us, gives it more anticipation. Our following is really like a cult following so, with ‘Ye he does things with the booklets, the artwork on the album and different things that fans want to be able to have.” (XXL Mag)
Nearly a week before Cruel Summer hit store shelves, the jam-packed LP prematurely arrived online.
As expected, Kanye West ‘s G.O.O.D. Music compilation ‘Cruel Summer’ leaked online Wednesday night (Sept. 12), much to the chagrin of his record label Def Jam. In recent years, album leaks on the Internet have become more exciting than the actually release date. Several songs from the 12-track LP have already surfaced on the web and publications like SPIN and the Los Angeles Times have already offered their first-listen reviews of the collection. Fan reactions to the album on Twitter have been mixed. One follower wrote, ‘Cruel Summer’ may not be the greatest album ever, but it bangs so hard in the car!” while another tweeted , “I’m not even disappointed with ‘Cruel Summer,’ I said it would be average and it is (imo).” (Pop Crush)
Despite the leak, Cruel Summer is slated to sell up to 190,000 copies in its opening week.
She’s the daring young diva on the flying trapeze. RCA diva P!nk‘s latest, The Truth About Love, her sixth studio recording, is on target to be her first-ever #1 album, with a projected total of 200-225k. Her previous high was the #2 slot reached by the last album, 2008’s Funhouse. That would be enough to top Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music compilation on Def Jam/IDJ, Cruel Summer, which may have suffered from a brief, one-day absence of the album from iTunes, but is gaining ground quickly, according to one-day sales reports from retailers both physical and digital lucky enough not to find themselves part of Mitt Romney‘s 47% cut-off. At this point it looks like it will sell in the 170-190k range. We’ll keep an eye on the battle as we head into Friday’s Weakend Chart Preview. (HITS Daily Double)
A few days ago, G.O.O.D. Music’s Pusha T proclaimed it one of the best compilation albums in ages.
In the days immediately following the album’s release, more than a few reviews continue to nitpick at Kanye’s work on Cruel Summer, accusing him of giving it a half effort, but Pusha is clear about his thoughts on the project. “I definitely feel like Cruel Summer lives up to the hype,” he says. “I definitely feel like Cruel Summer is the best compilation album of all crews to drop compilation albums. The music level is totally the upper echelon of hip-hop music.” (MTV)
