How is Wale's new album only projected to sell only 23k-27k? What is he doing wrong?

But Wale doesn’t have a single song that anyone knows that doesn’t have a R&B feature

so It was all smoke and mirrors for real

Sienfield album had the Usher song and Jeremih song

 

On chill is his biggest hit since Bad, he'll be fine

 

I think it's the opposite, those are the only songs that connect on a mainstream level but if you only have the women longevity is difficult. Females make rappers hot, males make rappers great and solidify their place.

Likability influences artists' perception and numbers, sometimes even opinions on music and skills.

 

But album sales and how hot you are is not exclusively linked to your ability to make pop songs.

 

As one of his biggest fans on this board the truth is he never diversified his singles enough to keep selling albums instead of singles. I think its too late to break out of the type casted rapper he is now. Hes seen as a "ladies man" rapper and that isn't a good thing when you are trying to earn respect from the rap community. He seems to forget that ladies will gravitate towards anything successful so theres no need to dedicate 9 tracks on a 15 track album to kissing their feet. Lets go over his last 5 albums first week sales

2011 - Ambition debuted at number 2 with 164k (single: Lotus Flower Bomb - platinum)
2013 - Gifted debuted at number 1 with 158k (single: Bad - 2x platinum)
2015 - TAAN debuted at number 1 with 88k (single: The Matrimony - platinum)
2017 - SHiNE 22k (single: My PYT - platinum)
2019 - Wow...That's crazy 25k (single: On Chill (could go 2x platinum))

I'm not going to even entertain folks that say Wale cant rap, that's just obvious trolling or blind hate. So what happened between 2015-2017 that could cause this? Ross hasn't had a number 1 album since 2014. Meek is the only one of the MMG "big 3" to have a number 1 album since 2015. What happened is the Meek v Drake beef turned the attention from MMG as arguably the hottest label, to Meek being a punching bag and everything in the following couple of years was about Meek and anticipation for his next project and beef. All interviews with Ross and Wale were centered around Meek Mill. This isn't a fault of Meek, but Ross and Wale should have smartened up and realized it was time for them to reinvent themselves. Moreso Wale. Ross would be ok because hes the label boss and can market himself whenever. And it would always look like he's in charge. The rest of the label would either need to reinvent themselves or get swallowed up. Omarion, Stalley, Gunplay etc. Again, its not Meeks fault because sales were projecting downward anyway but once shyt went down it was important to redefine yourself since the MMG brand took that L
Wale can always make a hit record with his ear for production, rap skills and ability to pick vocalists for hooks, but its not gonna translate into album sales anymore because the narrative is hes an "R&B rapper". Looking back, the SHiNE album was way more important than it appeared at the time. That was the crossroads of his career to come out with a high energy lead single to resonate with the streets. It was a chance to change the narrative and give his career a new birth. He chose My PYT, it went platinum but it didn't drive anyone to want to hear what else would be on the album because we heard songs similar to that theme from him a million times.

It was an "Oh, Wale is back " single instead of a "You heard that new Wale? " single

Whats even worse is after that album, us dwindling Wale fans were duped by his recent EPs which were amazing. (Self Promotion, Free Lunch) The rapping, the subject matter, the energy led us all to believe this album would be different. I assumed it would be Ambition energy mixed with his even more developed rap skills. Then he goes out and does it again, look at this terrible tracklist. This is indefensible.

1. Sue Me
2. Love & Loyalty (feat. Mannywellz)
3. Cliché (feat. Ari Lennox & Boogie)
4. Expectations (feat. 6LACK)
5. Bgm
6. Love… (Her Fault) [feat. Bryson Tiller]
7. On Chill (feat. Jeremih)
8. Routine
9. Love Me Nina / Semiautomatic
10. Break My Heart (My Fault) [feat. Lil Durk]
11. Debbie
12. 50 In Da Safe
13. Set You Free (feat. Kelly Price)
14. Black Bonnie (feat. Jacquees)
15. Poledancer (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)

He had a potential monster song with J. Cole (My Boy) that he could've used as a second single after On Chill, but he put it on an EP instead of his album. The bolded tracks should no longer be on Wale albums, we've heard these songs a million times from him. No non-Wale fan wants to hear these from him, hell, I'm a Wale fan and I don't want to hear these songs anymore from him. I'm not even that mad at poledancer being added, but to close an album with a stripper track that's a year old...wtf???Take the 8 non-bolded songs above, add My Boy, Staying Power and 2 more high energy records. How bad is it that a posse cut with your two label mates doesn't even feel like it fits your album?? Not only that, this is the first time all 3 have been on a track together in forever and you don't even put their names on the tracklist????!!!! You dont think that would drive curiosity seeing all three on the same song??? This album has incredible songs like Sue Me, Love Me Nina and Set you Free that will never be heard because he cant stir up an audience's interest.



rant over...lol

 

Likability isn’t that important. NBA young boy isn’t liked and he does numbers. Nas is loved by everybody and his last project flopped hard.

 

NBA is deemed unlikable by who? And been in the game for 3 decades expecting him to do numbers is unrealistic.

 

nba YoungBoy is well liked especially 21 and under, that’s his biggest demographic.

 

He puts his best songs on mixtapes for no reason and I guess he constantly needs to put out music for affirmation. The J. Cole song was sorely needed in this album. The African song doesn’t fit the album. He lacks direction, which I ultimately believe is connected to TAAN not doing what he wanted it to do. He saw Cole and Kendrick do well off just themes and it didn’t work for him and he never recovered. It just wasn’t meant to be for him.

 

It did 100k in a time when guys were doing 200k with less of a push tho....

 

Yeah he’s well hated too. I see both

 

Wale is just getting older and is on the tail end of his career

A very respectable successful rap career might I add

 

Which is ironic given the source

 

I hear you, but it was still a number 1 debut.

 

Oh look, another "how much X rapper sold" thread

Y'all sound like some hoes