Common Stirs Up Southland Support

Southern California record buyers reversed the national consensus on the new albums by two closely watched rappers. The critically admired Common’s first release with the powerful MCA label entered the regional sales chart at No. 7, nine spots higher than its national rank, while Ruff Ryders associate Drag-On registered at No. 5 nationally while just making it into the Southern California Top 10 list.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

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Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 No Strings Attached, ‘N Sync (1) 1 2 Romeo Must Die, various artists (3) -- 3 Supernatural, Santana (2) 3 4 War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), Ice Cube (7) 2 5 Unleash the Dragon, Sisqo (4) 5 6 Dr. Dre 2001, Dr. Dre (6) 4 7 Like Water for Chocolate, Common (16) -- 8 Writing’s on the Wall, Destiny’s Child (8) 7 9 On How Life Is, Macy Gray (9) 6 10 Opposite of H2O, Drag-On (5) --

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TOP 10 SINGLES

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Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 Maria Maria, Santana (1) 2 2 There You Go, Pink (2) 1 3 Say My Name, Destiny’s Child (6) 3 4 From the Bottom of My Broken Heart, Britney Spears (8) 4 5 Get It On Tonite, Montell Jordan (9) 5 6 Breathe, Faith Hill (3) 8 7 I Like It, Sammie (4) 7 8 Another Dumb Blonde, Hoku (7) 9 9 U Don’t Love Me, Kumbia Kings (18) 10 10 I Don’t Wanna Kiss You Goodnight, LFO (10) --

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Source: SoundScan Inc., for week ended April 2