Though Phife Dawg isn't here to witness it, A Tribe Called Quest's new album, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, has been a worthy testament to his legacy and as big of a success as anyone could've foreseen. We Got It from Here... is now officially the No. 1 album in the country. The group's prior and only other No. 1 came over 20 years ago, with their fourth album, Beats, Rhymes & Life. Their new album is their first in over 18 years, following The Love Movement.
We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service significantly exceeded the initial projections, as Billboard now reports that the album sold a total of 135,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, via Epic Records. Of that sum, 112,000 are counted as traditional album sales.
The 20 years since Beats, Rhymes & Life is the longest stretch between No. 1 albums for a hip-hop act in the history of the Billboard 200 albums chart. Jeezy had set the previous record just two weeks ago, when his new album, Trap or Die 3, became his first No. 1 since 2008's The Recession.
With the newly unveiled Billboard numbers, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service has achieved the third highest first-week sales of all hip-hop albums this year, only trailing Drake's VIEWS (1.04 million) and Kendrick Lamar's untitled unmastered (178,000). The Tribe barely stole the No. 3 spot from Future's EVOL (134,000).
Stream We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service here.