Last week, Troy Ave’s album, Major Without a Deal, sold less than 4,500 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Billboard wrote an article breaking down the numbers and explaining that physical copies – Only Hip Hop Facts said only 30 were sold – weren’t available to the public until the Tuesday after the first week numbers were already tallied. Any physical albums reported would have been a “street date violation.”
“I don’t give a fuck if they were sold illegally,” Troy Ave says during an interview with The Breakfast Club today (June 16) “because I just want my music out. But basically it was like the mom and pop stores that had ’em. If people came and asked for ’em early, they were just giving ’em. Really, it was just one store in the Bronx that sold the 30 copies. But shout out to them. They got my music out. I ain’t trippin’.”
The independent rapper compares his journey to that of another Empire State rapper. He quotes Jay Z‘s “Intro: A Million and One Questions/Rhyme No More” to explain his success.
“You gotta get the slow grind, like the Reasonable Doubt grind,” Troy Ave says. “It gonna catch on later and it keep picking up and picking up and picking up. At the end of the day, I’m here to make money. I’m here to get the paper. Now I understand what Jay Z meant by, ‘Can you really match a triple platinum artist buck by buck with only a single going gold?'”
Troy Ave does not have a certified album, but his song “All About the Money” did reach No. 1 on the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists Chart.
Troy Ave also says that he didn’t pay for any of the features on his album. Snoop Dogg, Ty Dolla $ign, Rick Ross and Cam’ron are among the artists to appear on Major Without a Label.
“When you got the respect, when they see you coming up and they see you like you’re the boy, they gonna do it off the strength,” Troy Ave says.
The independent rapper says that the criticism he receives is “damn near like modern-day slavery.”
“They say, ‘Troy Ave’s doing too much. He’s not like a humble or a yessa-boss-type of nigga. We need to tear him down,'” the rapper says.
He also says he is like Jackie Robinson or Michael Jordan because he is pioneering the independent road just like the baseball and basketball players were confronted as they blazed trails in their respective sports.
“You better compare yourself to the greats if you want to be great,” he says.
For additional Troy Ave coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
great
This nigga…smh
Look the truth is New York is the brain of hip hop. If by is strong then hip hop artists can eat and spread knowledge and empower themselves the true hip hop way( I am not talking about just money here). The music moguls want to control hip hop to make money for themselves. The best way to do this is to destroy New York artists. A strong New York would mean anti pop culture, self sufficiency, money and enterprise in the neighbourhoods legally, positive role models, legendary MUSICAL pioneers, lost generations within low income America with a culture of their own without having to rely on generic culture. The moguls don’t want that!
That you Troy?!? You restoring the feeling?
Dude you are so cool…j/k fuck everything about you
He needs to chill out
this lil nigga voice sound feminine
This fat nigga has his head so far up his own ass. This fat motherfucker has the type of face you love to hate. You flopped hard bitch, you ain’t getting that big money, basic ass fat nigga.
How is he pioneering anything? TDE, Taylor gang, Tech 9, all these folks moved way more units independently (in the last 3-5 years).
The burning question i was waiting for…
It’s not his debut….his debut was NEW YORK CITY: The Album. Wtf DX.
This dude sucks.
for all these dumbasses that just compare shit to slavery like they fucking know how slavery really was…just once do i wish everyone was forced to be a slave for a day so we can all stop comparing critcism and other stupid shit to fucking slavery!!
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say being tied to a whipping post and whipped until meat is falling out of your back, then being fed alive to a pack of starving dogs while your family is watching is probably a LITTLE different than having people talk shit about you on twitter. The audacity and lack of humility with these mothafuckas is just repulsive.