This is why we can’t have nice things, Internet. Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap mixtape is one of the year’s best albums — it was also released online for free in April. So what was it doing on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart last month, when it peaked at No. 63 with 1,000 copies sold? ‘Cause Chance would like to know.
Here’s some shadiness, via Billboard:
After representatives of the artist claimed that the sales were being made without their knowledge or compensation, digital versions of the tape were quickly pulled from both retailers. But on Amazon, an apparently unauthorized physical version of “Acid Rap,” credited to a company called “Mtc,” continues to be sold at press time for $14.83.
“I’ve never heard of Mtc, so this has taken us by surprise,” Chance’s manager Patrick Corcoran says. “But when I first saw it I showed Chance, and his lawyers are trying to stop it.”
Since Chance doesn’t have a record deal, he doesn’t enjoy the protection of the RIAA. But his mixtapes have generated considerable buzz on the Internet and in the press, enough for a third-party company to see value in manufacturing physical copies and offering them for sale. (Via)
If the same thing happens with Run the Jewels, Killer Mike will take care of the problem. Personally.
