TVT, the first independent distributor to land two titles in the top-20 of The Billboard 200 since November 1995, has done it again.
The label scores its third top-20 album in two months with the Ying Yang Twins’ Collipark/TVT debut, “Me & My Brother.” The album launched at No. 11 on the chart last week.
“We have followed Ying Yang’s career for a long time,” TVT senior VP of marketing Paul Burgess says. “We marveled at the enormous success of their past singles, especially ‘Say I Yi Yi,’ which was a monster hit. We always had our eyes on the group and were surprised at the number of units the last album sold. We always [knew] we would love to work with them and really sink our teeth into a group that is able to deliver hits like that.”
The Atlanta-based duo of D Roc and Kaine signed with TVT earlier this year. Their previous releases, “Thug Walkin’ ” (Collipark) and “Alley: The Return of the Ying Yang Twins” (Collipark/Koch), sold 164,000 units and 403,000 copies in the U.S., respectively, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Released Sept. 16, “Me & My Brother” sold more than 62,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
The Ying Yang Twins recently garnered mainstream attention through their featured appearance on labelmates Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz’s smash single, “Get Low.” The track is No. 3 on The Billboard Hot 100 this issue.
Building upon that success, TVT launched Ying Yang’s first single, “Naggin’.” That single is currently No. 45 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
With the recent success of Southern acts like Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, T.I. and YoungbloodZ, the marketplace should be ripe for the Ying Yang Twins. However, the duo isn’t concerned with album sales.
“I don’t get into what this person sold or that person sold,” D Roc says. “I just put it into God’s hands and ask him to guide us in the way we need to go. I’m not going to predict what we’re going to sell or how our fans will respond. We love doing music. It’s that love that got us where we are now.
“A lot of people don’t know us as D Roc and Kaine,” he continues. “They always say, ‘There goes one of the Ying Yang Twins!’ This is what the South is still fighting for — identity. When we come to New York, they don’t know us [individually]; they know our music. So, we’re still fighting to get them to understand that the Ying Yang Twins are D Roc and Kaine. Say my name, damn it. That’s what we’re coming with, with this album.”
Excerpted from the Oct. 11, 2003, issue of Billboard. The full original text of the article is available in the Billboard.com Premium Services section.
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