I Am Not a Human Being -- Prison? No Problem

I Am Not a Human Being, by Lil Wayne, released while the rapper is in prison, has hit number 1 on Billboard 200, as reported at MTV. Only late rapper Tupac Shakur has accomplished the same feat.

Lil Wayne has made mistakes, but releasing I Am Not a Human Being first on the Internet was not one of them

Rapper Lil Wayne, considered one of the best freestylers, is currently in prison for weapons possession. Prison isn't a place you want to be, and we can assume Lil Wayne will be happy when he is released. Meanwhile, he's keeping busy behind bars, in a positive way, by continuing to work on his craft. It was a brilliant move for Lil Wayne to release I Am Not a Human Being mixtape exclusively on iTunes first.

You can download music from iTunes in less than five minutes. Buying music this way is far more appealing, to many, than driving to a brick and mortar location. There are a lot of artists out there, but Lil Wayne understands how to promote effectively in order to get the word out about his music.

By creating the iTunes buzz, and then releasing it for brick and mortar sales, it proved to be one of the best ways to sell music

As reported at Entertainment Weekly, releasing I Am Not a Human Being in physical stores after online was important. With Internet sales, the album hit number 2, but then dropped down to number 16. However, now that the music has been released in brick and mortar locations, the album is at number 1. The move catches all buying habits, resulting in a chart topper for Lil Wayne.

Sources:

Gil Kaufman, Lil Wayne's I Am Not A Human Being Tops Billboard, MTV

Jolie du Pre, I Am Not a Human Being Mixtape is a 21st Century Reminder, Associated Content

Brad Wete, Lil Wayne makes big jump to No. 1 on Billboard 200 albums chart, Entertainment Weekly