As many of you may know, rapper Jadakiss just dropped another album (The Last Kiss) this month, so we took him out to NYC’s Philippe Chow for drinks and a quick chat. In the video below, hear what Jadakiss has to say about his album, the characters in Notorious, what’s up next, and more!

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It appears that many of you who listened to Jadakiss’ album on The Urban Daily actually went out and bought it.

Jadakiss’ Def Jam records debut, The Last Kiss, moved 134, 515 units according to Nielsen Soundscan, giving the Yonkers MC the #3 spot on the Billboard Top 200 Charts.

While this falls short of Kiss’ previous debuts (Kiss The Game Goodbye and Kiss of Death sold 203,000 and 245,000 units respectively), in the context of today’s sales market this is a definite win.

To put Jadakiss’ first week sales of The Last Kiss in perspective, you have to look at the debut numbers of other artists in 2009.

On the high side, we have a veteran group like UGK with a wide, supportive fan base mourning the loss of a group member selling 76, 419 units of 4 Life in their first week. In that same week Flo-Rida, a popular, newer artist who has broken digital download sales records TWICE, sold 55, 285 copies of his sophomore album, R.O.O.T.S.

On the low side you have two extremes. A younger artist like Bow Wow, who has been selling records longer than Kiss, moved 30, 944 units of New Jack City II (and announced his retirement soon after). Then you have MIMS, another reasonably popular New York artist, sold 12,404 copies of his sophomore album, Guilt.

The numbers become more intriguing when you compare Jadakiss to his new label mates. As a hardcore New York hip-hop fan even I can concede that Young Jeezy, Ludacris and Kanye West are easily more popular than Jadakiss in 2009 getting more radio and video love. (I’ll leave the debate on their artistic merits to you all.) Kanye’s most recent work, 808s & Heartbreak, sold 450,000 copies, Ludacris’s Theatre of The Mind sold 218,000 copies and Yong Jeezy’s Recession sold 260,000 copies in their respective debut weeks.

Some of you are probably saying that to compare Jadakiss to Kanye isn’t fair because he was singing. OK, fine. The Dream is not a rapper and his sophomore album on Def Jam, Love Vs. Money, only sold a few thousand copies more than Jada in its first week, 151,000 and he’s been out there kissing Christina Milian to get the gossip going.

Jadakiss has no beef, no girl (in public) and no animal cruelty charges to talk about. Just music. Considering all that was done to raise awareness of those respective projects the suits at Def Jam have to be pleased with the return on their investment in Jada.

On “We Gonna Make It” Jadakiss famously rhymed that “dead rappers get better promotion,” but with some help from his fans he proved that maybe it doesn’t matter.

Jadakiss’s first album on Roc-A-Fella Def Jam, The Last Kiss, will be in stores on April 7th but you can listen to the whole thing here! Let us know what you think in the comments.

The Last Kiss

Yonkers, New York based rap star Jadakiss is gearing up to satisfy fans who have wondered about the status of his forthcoming album, The Last Kiss.

The rapper recently took time out from recording The Last Kiss to preview 14 songs slated for the Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam release.

Among those contributing to the album are rappers, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and Jadakiss’ fellow D-Block member Sheek Louch as well as hitmaking vocalists Barrington Levy, Ne-Yo and Jazmine Sullivan.

Producers include Pharrell Williams, Mr. Porter, Red Spider and Black Keys.

The release of The Last Kiss comes five years after Jadakiss’ last musical offering, 2004′s Kiss of Death.

Get more about Jadakiss’ new album at Allhiphop.com

“They trying to squeeze me, but we’re gonna [record] some more music, and heat it up even more,” said Jada about label promotion towards his Last Kiss release, a debut since leaving Interscope. “Def Jam, when they push the button, they mash the button…I ain’t have an album out in so long, so it’s different. I had a nice few months to work my other albums. This one, you got the single, got the video, you gotta heat it up some more.”

“By My Side,” a song assisted by Ne-Yo, has begun to get national radio rotation in the last month.

As far as revealing this album’s overall sound, Jadakiss referred to his reputation in album-making. “My fans know what the album was gonna be already. You know what it is when your boy ‘Kiss is workin’, you just gotta get your speakers right.” He did confirm that the release will arrive early 2009, sporting a Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam/Ruff Ryders jacket.

Asked about his status in the game as one of, if not thee best, Jadakiss waved off giving himself rank. However, the Yonkers, New York veteran did admit, “I’m incredible; I’m gonna get even more incredibler [sic]. I’m gonna get even better though, in the next year or two.”

Earlier this month, both Styles P and Sheek Louch released retail mixtapes on Koch Records.

“I had to change the name of my album,” explains ‘Kiss in an interview during a video show with The Best of Both Offices. “Kiss My Ass wasn’t testing well at retail. Not even with the exclamations or none of that. So, we had to switch it to The Last Kiss.”

The change left fans to feel that this was his way of signifying his retirement as a solo artist, but J-to-the-Mwah has been quick to dispel any rumors of his departure.

“Some people asked me is it my last album. Nah, it’s just … the first album was Kiss The Game Goodbye, the second one was The Kiss of Death, so this one was The Last Kiss. It’s the closing of a trilogy… It’s the last time ‘Kiss’ is going to be in the album titles. This is why this is The Last Kiss.”

Jada plans to collaborate with Young Jeezy on a track and is a few songs away from finishing the album. He also may use Kiss My Ass for a nearly completed mixtape that he has plans to put out sometime in the very near future.

The Last Kiss will hit stores on December 9th.