Rap Makes a Strong Showing

After all that media hype, Hammer’s “Too Legit to Quit” debuted at a “lowly” No. 3 on the Billboard magazine pop album chart. For Hammer not to enter at No. 1 has to be a major disappointment. What’s worse for the pop rapper is that his album was topped by gangsta rapper Ice Cube’s controversial “Death Certificate”--debuting at No. 2--which sold strictly on word-of-mouth. Cube’s music gets virtually no airplay and the pre-release publicity was minial. While this is a strong showing for rap, it’s significant that neither could unseat country singer Garth Brooks, who continues his stranglehold on No. 1 with “Ropin’ the Wind.” Prince’s “Cream” is still the No. 1 pop single.

* Next to Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana is the hottest rock band around. Its first major-label album--for Geffen--jumped eight spots to No. 9.

Pop Album Chart

Rank Rank 2 Weeks Title (Label) Last Week Weeks Ago on Chart 1. “Ropin’ the Wind” 1 1 8 Garth Brooks (Capitol) 2. “Death Certificate” ... ... 1 Ice Cube (Priority) 3. “Too Legit to Quit” ... ... 1 Hammer (Capitol) 4. “Use Your Illusion II” 2 2 7 Guns N’ Roses (Geffen) 5. “Metallica” 4 5 12 Metallica (Elektra) * “Nevermind” 17 35 6 Nirvana (Geffen)