Subscribe
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE

The curious case of Angel Haze’s act of rebellion should serve as a lesson and reminder to young artists that going against the grain doesn’t always result in fresh beer.

For the uninitiated, Angel Haze is a talented, yet restless rapper who took matters into her own hands–literally when she decided to leak her own debut Dirty Gold album after her frustrations with her label, Universal Republic had reached her wit’s end. They shortly after agreed to release it at the tail end of December.

The move was applauded by music industry opponents and a speckling of the Twitter’s peanut gallery but those good ‘ol first-week numbers suggest that maybe she should have waited for a proper rollout.

According to REVOLT TV, her first day of album sales only amounted to a deadly 187 with the seven-day tally equaling 1,115.

No one really goes platinum any more but hustle rappers sell more figures out of their trunk in a week’s time.

The international release of Dirty Gold didn’t fare much better; only racking in 857 units across the pond in the UK.

Haze has maintained that the ballsy (or breasty?) move was solely for the fans telling Music Week, “It’s a lot of work but I never set myself up for anything I’m not prepared for.”

To say she needs more people is a severe understatement. She recently received a “M” rating in XXL magazine, which is generally reserved for rappers who still use Pen & Pixel graphics for their album covers.

For what it’s worth, you can cop Dirty Gold on iTunes if you’re into supporting struggle.