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Decisions, decisions. We know each and every one of you is going to be first in line at your local mom and pop shop with $50 in your hands to cop the new albums from Erykah Badu, Meth + Ghost + Rae, Usher, E-40 right? Surely the only way to get these never heard before albums are to camp outside the store until they break out the orange box cutters and place them on shelves for all to consume. So question is, where’s the best place to do it? Let’s take a look.


Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part 2: Return of The Ankh: Price or exclusive bonus tracks? Considering that the Itunes digital version includes one bonus track – “Jump Up In The Air (Stay There)” (feat. Lil Wayne + Bilal) – that seems kind of exciting in comparison to other versions. However look at the economics of it, virtually every major retailer – Amazon, Target, & Best Buy – are offering the physical CD for $10. Itunes bonus track version’s asking price is $11.99. That’s three dollars more than what you’d pay digitally at Amazon and $2 more than you’d pay on for a CD anywhere else. And let’s face it, this bonus track has been floating around the information superhighway for a while now. Verdict: Price, go for any major retailer.


Meth + Rae + Ghost – Wu-Massacre: Not many special bonus tracks for Wu-Massacre, so this makes it much easier to decide. However, with the album’s three different covers, if you are a rabid, tattoo-having Wu fan, you might want to go the economic route and grab all three versions for $9.98 at Amazon, Best Buy, or Target. You also have the option to get some swanky bonus items, if you like. Our old competitor, Sandbox Automatic is offering a free bonus mix CD of Avenging Eagles, which Mathematics released for free download a month ago. No word if these are officially sanctioned Def Jam pressed promo discs or crappy CD-R’s produced in house at the ‘Box. We’re willing to bet the latter.

The best deal though? Try UGHH.Com. Yes, you will have to spring some extra cash, but for $35.97 you get can get the album on CD, plus an incredibly dope Wu-Tang T-Shirt in any size, produced by Rocksmith Tokyo and Be Street. Rumor has it that those are the fists of Ed Wong shaking angrily at the Wu-Tang logo. Oh, and this “Made Men” supposed track with Cappadonna isn’t on any version we’ve seen thus far. Verdict: UGHH.Com Deluxe Package.


Usher – Raymond Vs. Raymond: Listening to this LP as this is being typed, as a matter of fact. Review is coming shortly….Anyway, with such a wealth of tracks recorded for this LP, it’s surprising that there aren’t meatier bonus tracks being offered with this thing. In fact, there’s just one, “More”, which is included on the Itunes edition for $10.99. So if you are going digital, you might as well go that route, as the AmazonMP3 version does not include the extra track. But here’s the rub: the CD versions are priced at $9.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target – and since the Itunes bonus track “More” was previously released as a single on Itunes for $1.29 – you might as well get the disc and grab the bonus track separately. Truthfully, “More” is one of the album’s best tracks, despite the Batman incident. Verdict: Get the CD @ any major retailer, and the bonus track sold separately at ITunes.

E-40 – Revenue Retrievin’ Night Shift / Day Shift (Double Album): This one is pretty easy, since this is a double album, to cop both discs (each sold separately), you are going to spend at least $20, as the cheapest you’ll find them are for $9.99 a piece. Get this though: Itunes has a special offer where you can get Day & Night for $16.99 – and each album comes with 2 bonus tracks (making a total of four exclusive Itunes bonus tracks, for all you mathematicians out there). You can believe Steve Jobs is rubbing elbows with E-40 right now, laughing all the way to the bank, black turtleneck and all. Verdict: Itunes.

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0 Responses to "Where Is The Best Place To Buy Erykah, E-40, Wu, & Usher Today?"
  • Digitek says:

    I mean shit, I’ll take a combination of Jedi Mind Tricks, Esoteric, Celph Titled, and Apathy over 99% of hip hop releases nowadays ..and I’m sure the Hiphopsite.com cats would agree

  • DJ Pizzo says:

    The only reason we did not include AOTP in this report was because this article was more about albums with special editions or variant packages etc. Since AOTP did not have any alternate versions elsewhere, we just didn’t include it here…. BUT, we’re going to make it up to you AOTP fans later today with some exclusive treats. Keep your eyes peeled….

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    MYK-ONE

    March 30th, 2010 at 11:22 am