Juicy J Wants a Meeting to Discuss the Decline in Rap Sales
Noting that sales are down 40% from last year.
Juicy J is evidently concerned about the state of hip-hop in the music business and wants a big discussion about the issue.
The hip-hop veteran took to social media to share his thoughts on the decline in rap sales, “I know a lot of people don’t want to hear this, but rap music is down 40%. Check the charts. Check the math.” He continued, “What are we, as rappers, producers, composers, going to do about this shit? Because it’s down 40% this year. Do your research. This is a fact.”
He added, “Let’s have a conversation. What are we gonna do? We gotta figure some shit out. We gotta sit down and talk. Let’s have a meeting, let’s meet up somewhere and have a big ass f*cking meeting. Let’s talk about this shit, how we can turn this shit around. Because this is how we eat. This is how we make money.”
Juicy J’s message isn’t far from the truth; this year’s first No. 1 rap album wasn’t claimed until July 2023 by Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape, while the first No. 1 rap song of the year is Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” from September — the latter of which was the first chart-topping rap song in a year and ended hip-hop’s longest drought on the chart. In comparison to the first of half of 2022, six rappers had released albums that charted at No. 1. Billboard previously explained that it could be due to the fact that some of hip-hop’s biggest stars had dropped their album last year, but also theorized that hip-hop is “losing its dominance in terms of market share,” dropping to 26% from 28% last year.
Elsewhere in music, 21 Savage is “coming home” for his first and biggest headlining show at London’s The O2.
