New York’s Losing the Lion’s Share – 2008 Recap
In the wake of XXL’s 10 Freshmen for ’10 cover, one question kept coming up: What happened to New York? For hip-hop’s first 25 years, the music’s birthplace created dozens of stars. From the Bronx’s KRS-One to Manhattan’s Doug E. Fresh, Brooklyn’s Notorious B.I.G., Queens’s 50 Cent and Staten Island’s Wu-Tang Clan, each borough produced its own legends. Even outlying provinces like Long Island and Yonkers got in on the act, expanding New York rap’s borders with the likes of Public Enemy and DMX.
But that was then. Over the past seven years, the well has gone dry. Since 50 Cent detonated onto the scene with his eight-million-selling megabomb Get Rich or Die Tryin’, New York newcomers have been having a hard time blowing up. In fact, since 50 made his mark in 2003 with both his solo debut and G-Unit group album (Beg For Mercy), only a handful of local rappers have managed to debut in the top 10 of Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart: Juelz Santana (2003’s From Me to U), Sheek Louch (2003’s Walk Witt Me), Loon (2003’s Loon), Lloyd Banks (2004’s The Hunger for More) Tony Yayo (2005’s Thoughts of a Predicate Felon) and Mims (2007’s Music Is My Savior). And only Lloyd Banks (2004’s “On Fire”), Mims (2007’s “This Is Why I’m Hot,”) and Lil Mama (2008’s “Lip Gloss”) have had a first single break the top 10 of the Hot 100 singles.
In XXL’s May issue, which is on stands now, we went searching the five boroughs, as well as Long Island and Yonkers, in search of some answers as to how New York fell into a hip-hop drought. But over the course of the past few days, we’ve given a year-by-year breakdown of the music that came out of the Big Apple and how it stacked up against the rest of the hip-hop nation. Today, we touch on 2008.
Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t…
In 2008, 22 hip-hop albums debuted in the top 10 of Billboard’s top 200, 4 of which came from New York artists.
NEW YORK ARTISTS
The Elephant In The Room, Fat Joe
T.O.S. (Terminate On Sight), G Unit
Untitled, Nas
Exit 13, LL Cool J
FLORIDA ARTISTS
Trilla, Rick Ross
Still Da Baddest, Trina
Definition Of Real, Plies
We Global, DJ Khaled
CALIFORNIA ARTISTS
Ego Trippin, Snoop Dogg
Raw Footage, Ice Cube
LAX, The Game
Shwayze, Shwayze
GEORGIA ARTISTS
The Recession, Young Jeezy
Paper Trail, T.I.
Theater Of The Mind, Ludacris
LOUISIANA ARTISTS
Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne
Savage Life 2, Webbie
ILLINOIS ARTISTS
808s & Heartbreak, Kanye West
PENNSYLVANIA ARTISTS
Rising Down, The Roots
MISSOURI ARTISTS
Brass Knuckles, Nelly
TEXAS ARTISTS
II Trill, Bun-B
MISSISSIPPI ARTISTS
The Greatest Story Ever Told, David Banner
Out of the 22 hip-hop albums to debut in the top 10 of Billboard’s top 200 in 2008, none were from new New York artists dropping their first album.
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In 2008, 10 hip-hop singles reached the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100, none of which came from New York artists.
LOUISIANA ARTISTS
“Lollipop” – Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major
“A Milli” – Lil Wayne
“Got Money” – Lil Wayne Featuring T-Pain
“Mrs. Officer” – Lil Wayne
“Independent” - Webbie
FLORIDA ARTISTS
“Bust it Baby” - Plies
GEORGIA ARTISTS
“Whatever You Like” – T.I.
“Live Your Life” – T.I.
CALIFORNIA ARTISTS
“Sensual Seduction” – Snoop Dogg
CANADIAN ARTISTS
“Dangerous” – Kardinal Offishall
Out of the 10 hip-hop singles to reach the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2008, none were from a new New York artists.