News: 50 Cent Struggles W/ "Blood On The Sand" Sales, 56K Sold To Date

Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Mon, 11 May 2009 14:40:00

With estimated 56,000 copies sold since its February release, 50 Cent 's latest video game Blood on the Sand has failed to live up to the sales numbers set by his former project.

The game's totals are significantly down from Fif's Bulletproof which hit store shelves in 2005.
Blood on the Sand has sold an estimated 56,000 copies in the United States between its February launch and early April. In its first two months of release in the fall of 2005, Bulletproof - Blood on the Sand 's prequel, sold 681,000 copies, with life-to-date sales of 1,123,000 units. Kotaku takes a look at a few more reasons why the game sold so low, and even mentions that maybe Activision's decision to sell of the title might have been a pretty smart move after all. ( Co-Optimus )

Various explanations for the game's retail struggles have emerged.

It was obvious that something was wrong with Blood on the Sand 's sales when THQ failed to hype the game's performance in its earnings report earlier this week. 50 Cent may not be as popular as he was in the middle of the decade, but he's by no means faded to obscurity. A drop-off this steep outpaces even the decline in the rapper's recent album sales. His 2005 album The Massacre sold 1.14 million copies in its first week, according to SoundScan , the group that tracks music sales in the U.S. His 2007 follow-up, Curtis , sold 691,000 units in its first week, a big decline, but not a calamity. There were stark differences between the two games. Bulletproof came out in the fall season and put 50 in an urban setting that was supposed to be inspired by what he raps about. Blood on the Sand was out in the winter and was more exotic, transporting 50 to a pseudo-Iraq where he needed to reclaim a stolen jeweled skull. Both games were released against tough competition. ( Kotaku )

On the other hand, Fif's recent rap battle has been credited with boosting music sales.

The real winner may be Universal Music Group, which owns Island Def Jam and Interscope, the labels the rappers are signed to. Since the dispute started in January, the sales of Ross' two previous albums have increased by 62%, while sales of 50 Cent's three catalog titles grew by 74%, according to Nielsen SoundScan . And the more that bloggers wrote about the battle, according to the online chatter tracker Nielsen BuzzMetrics , the more the two artists reaped the benefits. ( Billboard )

50 was recently chosen to meet and greet fans in New York City to promote Blood on the Sand .

Video game retailer Play N Trade of Manhattan, located at 137 E. 13 Street, will be hosting the event which will feature Blood on the Sand playing on one of three demo station game consoles as well as customer meet and greet with 50 Cent. Taking place Thursday, April 30, fans will be able to meet 50 Cent from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ( PR Newswire )

News: Beenie Man Warns Rick Ross, "Jamaica Don't Do Police"

Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Mon, 11 May 2009 13:15:00

Dancehall legend Beenie Man recently spoke out against performers with law enforcement backgrounds and explained how they put themselves in danger when performing in Jamaica.
Speaking about Rick Ross ' past history within law enforcement, Beenie talked with DJ Whoo Kid about the chances of being a police affiliated emcee in his home country.

"No, Jamaica don't do police," Beenie explained. "You can be a cop if you want [but not an artist.] If you're a police artist, I don't know if that's going to work out. You're a cop and an artist? That don't work out in Jamaica. You got cop artists, but they do that talent show sh*t. They don't come out on the street because n*ggas in Jamaica, once they find out you're a cop and you're on-stage, that means you're vulnerable. And you know what I mean, there gonna be battles, stones, oranges, apples, all that sh*t. When I say orange and apple, you understand it's an M-16, AK-47, if you want me to get serious. Because then you're vulnerable. You're a cop on stage. No police in the business. If you gonna be in the business, you gotta re-sign the business because police is in the killing business. The innocent killing business. And then the innocence is in the crowd and they're gonna try to kill you back because that's how it goes, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth." ( Radio Planet TV )

Aside from Beenie's warnings, G-Unit 's Tony Yayo recently threw verbal shots at Ross.

"He's so funny and delusional, I love it though," Yayo said in an interview. "'Cause now I got the real n*ggas from Miami, not no fake rap sh*t, not no fake Triple C 's Torch ...N*ggas trying to make it seem like Yayo can't get a pass down to Florida? Are you crazy? Are you kidding me? And I'm not talking about Disney Land, I'm talking about Little Haiti, I got the pass to go through their... I been a little quiet, I let fat boy talk. His album came out, he had a 68 percent drop this week so Def Jam ain't on they job. Def Jam don't want me to start waiting in front of that building for some of them executives. I don't give a f*ck about this rap sh*t my n*gga." ( Shade 45 )

Ross previously justified his time as a corrections officer in a past interview.

"The Boss done did it all to get money," Ross said last March. "And what you gotta understand is, if rumors surface it wasn't because, people felt like I didn't address it. It wasn't because of my selfish reasons, but what you gotta understand is that when you answer certain things, you gotta go to what was going on and who was involved, what the situation really was. So what we did was we got with BET and we chronicle my life so people can understand that by the time I was 17 years-old, 18 years-old, I was in a nice home, I was in whips, I was doing a lot of different things and I made a few moves...If Rick Ross did work at one of these places, it wasn't for the obvious reasons. There's a lot of gold mines around people's faces that they don't really know how to take advantage of...Yeah that picture is Rick Ross." ( Big Boy's Neighborhood )

Former G-Unit associate Bang Em Smurf has told fans to look beyond the rapper's past.

"Shout-out to the boss man, there's a lot of sh*t going on about this C.O. sh*t and homie being a C.O. back in the day," Smurf said in a video. "I don't give a f*ck about none of that 'cause at the end of the day, Dr. Dre was a she-thing, a drag queen...I got some gangsters that's C.O.'s from my hood...and they get busy. At the end of the day, I bang with a few C.O.'s, not every C.O. but I got a few I did. And Ross a real n*gga, by the way. He kept his word a hundred with me from day one." ( Worldstarhiphop )

News: Lloyd Banks Talks Life After Interscope, "It's Their Loss"

Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Mon, 11 May 2009 11:30:00

G-Unit 's Lloyd Banks recently spoke on his departure from Interscope Records and the shady practices which allegedly take place at the renowned record label.
Searching for a new record deal, Banks weighed in on the issues he had with the company responsible for his first two solo projects.

"I was ready to make a move," Banks said about leaving the powerhouse label. "I'm a brand-new engine. If anything, it's their loss. It's been a dark shadow cast upon that. That's why you hear [ Funkmaster ] Flex on the radio [boycotting Interscope], because it's an aura created around that machine, and the artists automatically get smacked in the head...I felt it's time for me to go somewhere where it's not biased and I get a fair shot. There's a lot of stuff on the table right now. You don't wanna speak about it until it gets ironed out all the way...Everything happened for a reason. I feel like I'm so blessed because of my work ethic and how easy the music is coming to me. It feels so good to be an independent artist with a brand. I have direct deals with iTunes and things of that nature, where it's direct money coming to me. It's 50 percent of me that's not pressed to be on a major. ( MTV )

His last two solo projects both landed within Billboard's Top 5 in their opening weeks.

In 2004, Banks' debut disc, The Hunger for More , opened at No. 1 on Billboard's albums sales chart, with week-one sales around 433,000 scanned discs and it ended up spending a second-straight week atop its competition, selling close to 164,000 units. In 2006, his sophomore album Rotten Apple , with first-week sales totaling close to 143,000, fell more than 40,000 albums short of a chart-topping repeat and settled instead for the chart's No. 3 position. ( SOHH )
Radio personality Funkmaster Flex was recently heard ranting over Interscope and threatening to boycott the company.
"Let me tell you something Nino , New York I'm talking to a person who makes decisions, who does things up there moving funny style," Flex said on his radio show about an Interscope employee. "Interscope Records, nothin' is spinning...That Eminem album is coming Interscope, I take pride in how I'm gonna do this movement...Unfortunately, we're not gonna be able to play those Eminem and Dr. Dre records and I'm so sorry this is the way this has to go down with this guy's album coming. I want us all to be friends, but Nino is not a friend of ours. I will go on with this, Nino, you got 24 hours to fix yourself or this goes some place else, tomorrow...Nino is the only one I'm letting off today, tomorrow I'm teeing off on the whole team." ( Hot 97 )
Banks' career took off around late 2002 along with 50 Cent and his mixtape campaign.
fter appearing on numerous local mixtapes, Banks, along with childhood friends Tony Yayo and 50 Cent, formed a crew called G-Unit, a group that proceeded to redefine the term "street marketing" with a series of self-released albums that included original numbers and quality artwork. Banks stayed on with 50 Cent, appearing on the artist's now classic 2003 debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin' . November of that same year saw the release of G-Unit's Beg for Mercy . Banks' long-awaited solo debut for G Unit/Interscope Records, Hunger for More , was released in June 2004. He followed it two years later with Rotten Apple . ( All Music )