Hip Hop returned to the charts this week, in a major way. In the trifecta of releases from Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross, it was the youngest, and southern representative that took the coveted #1 spot. Just under the two-hundred thousand mark, Ross‘ Trilla is the best first week selling rap album of 2008. Not far behind, Snoop Dogg also fared well in an impressive first week – can Ego Trippin’ crack the platinum status in the US that The Blue Carpet Treatment fell just a tad short of?
Of the three, the independent delegate, Fat Joe cracked the Top Ten with a #6 position, selling just under 50,000 units. Will 50 Cent‘s recent prophecy to XXL hold true that Joe Crack will fail to reach 100,000 on Elephant in the Room be true?
Surprisingly, it was Mary J Blige and Alicia Keys who gave up Top Ten seats to Janet Jackson and Erykah Badu. As commercial urban radio isn’t playing Badu‘s single “Honey,” will the adult contemporary market sustain the eclectic R&B veteran?
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Total |
| 1 | Rick Ross | Trilla | 198,375 | 198,956 |
| 3 | Snoop Dogg | Ego Trippin’ | 136,575 | 136,943 |
| 6 | Fat Joe | The Elephant In The Room | 46,125 | 46,260 |
| 8 | Janet Jackson | Discipline | 37,560 | 276,410 |
| 9 | Erykah Badu | New Amerykah: Part One | 34,808 | 200,399 |
Further down the charts, the Atlantic/Asylum fold continues to dominate early 2008 with consistent success from Lupe Fiasco, Webbie, Shawty Lo and Flo Rida and Bun B on deck. In a strange showing, Del The Funkee Homosapien returned with his first solo album in eight years, with New York indie mainstay Definitive Jux to put up over 5,000 units of his 11th Hour return record.
Other Notables…
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Total | |
| 29 | Webbie | Savage Life 2 | 18,448 | 119,907 | |
| 41 | Lupe Fiasco | The Cool | 15,230 | 407,718 | |
| 64 | Shawty Lo | Units In The City | 10,631 | 55,573 | |
| 122 | Del The Funkee Homosapien | 11th Hour | 5,810 | 5,985 | |
| — | Tech N9ne | Everready | 698 | 136,788 |
Will the Florida love hold for another strong week from Rick Ross? Or will fellow Poe Boy Entertainment artist Flo Rida challenge the charts with his debut? Can Sheek match the independent intensity that put Fat Joe in the Top 10, or will he follow Styles‘ trend in late-2007? As Lupe goes for gold, Freeway and Ghostface Killah are dangerously close to cracking 100,000 with their Def Jam releases. Stay tuned to HipHopDX to see how March melts down.
