11/17/06 - Game's Manager Talks Label Rumors & Game's Sa

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SOHH.com recently caught up with Czar Entertainment CEO Jimmy Rosemond to address rumors that he's being courted by several labels and speak on The Game's first week sales.

As previously reported by SOHH, word is spreading that several major labels, including Virgin, Warner Bros Music Group and Sony BMG, have been courting Rosemond to head their urban departments. Under advice from his lawyer, Rosemond would neither confirm nor deny the reports.

"Let me tell you, anything is possible if the money is right," Rosemond told SOHH exclusively. "I do very well as an independent company who has no ties with no company. I fight hard for my artists and it would have to be some kind of circumstance that would motivate me to go inside to work for a corporation that had restrictions so on and so forth."

Since hitting shelves this past Tuesday (November 14), Game's Doctor's Advocate is on pace to become the highest selling hip-hop album since T.I. dropped earlier this year. After moving 150,000 units on the first day, early reports have the album selling between 400,000 to 450,000 with a shot at selling up to 500,000 in its first week. SOHH asked Rosemond, Game's manager, to comment on those predictions.

"We're in a climate where Justin Timberlake did 700 . This is a guy who crosses all bounds of genres," Rosemond explained. "You got a guy like Game who predominantly is BET, some MTV2, a little bit of MTV. If we do 500,000 copies. You're talking about 200 less than a guy who is a pop icon. We've done very well when you test the climate of where sales are at today. We're part of the elite of selling records right now.

"It's phenomenal for this guy to break and to sell these records that he's about to sell," he continued. "We will be No. 1 on the charts next week. For him to do that with all the obstacles that were placed in front of him with 50 and with the Dr.Dre, no involvement and all of the naysayers and the doubters who said that this kid would be nothing. I remember a quote from 50 saying that without G-Unit nor Dr. Dre, Game would be a gold artist and we're trying to prove him wrong in the first week."