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Incarcerated rapper Gucci Mane is on track to lead the rap pack on The Billboard 200 charts next week, according to hitsdailydouble.com’s one-day sales projections.

The industry insider estimates that the ATL trap star’s new LP, The State Vs. Radric Davis, will move around 85,000 to 90,000 units in its first week on shelves. The album, which is Gucci’s first major label effort, features cameos from such big names as Usher, Keyshia Cole, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy and Rick Ross, among others. The Warner Bros. artist is believed to land one notch below Chris Brown’s new album, Graffiti, which is expected to sell between 120,000 to 130,000.

Other new additions to the charts next week include discs by Snoop Dogg, B.G., Timbaland and Clipse. Snoop is currently on par to scan about 55,000-60,000 of his tenth studio solo album, Malice N Wonderland. B. Gizzle’s Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood is projected to sell around 40-50K, Timbo’s Shock Value II is believed to fall somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 and the Virgina duo’s Til the Casket Drops is looking to fall at about 30-35K.

DJ Khaled Attempts To Defend Ace Hood’s Sales

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After releasing two albums under the guidance of DJ Khaled to little fanfare, many fans question the musical impact of Miami rapper Ace Hood .

The former XXL Freshman alum failed to break 100,000 in sales on either release—2008’s Gutta sold 91,305 and last June’s Ruthless moved about 51,600 units, according to the Nielsen SoundScan—yet the newly-appointed president of Def Jam South says the Southern MC is one of the top grossing newcomers of the last few years.

“A lot of people don’t know, Ace Hood is one of the most selling new rap artists,” Khaled told XXLMag.com. “It’s hard to sell a lot of records these days; that’s what they sayin’, right? But at the same time, if I look at other new rap artists that came out in the last two years, like new artists on his level, he sold more.” [Watch below]

Sales aside, Khaled believes it’s only a matter of time before the young rapper becomes a star.

“It’s not even like that with me,” he said about Ace’s SoundScan figures. “It’s about making Ace into a superstar, which he is gonna be, one of the big superstars in the game.”



Ace is currently in the studio working on his third solo disc.