Diggy Simmons Addresses Low "Unexpected Arrival" First-Week Sales

Rap newcomer Diggy Simmons has stepped up to denounce the perception of low first-week sales of his new Unexpected Arrival debut hurting his career and said his future is nothing less than promising.

Rather than kick rocks at the sales, Diggy compared the LP to debuts from the likes of platinum-selling artists Jay-Z and Bruno Mars.

"It's about growth. You look at a whole bunch of people. Look at Reasonable Doubt, when that first came out, that wasn't anything. And look at Jay now. You could look at Bruno [Mars] recently. When his Doo Wops & Hooligans came out, like 50,000 first week and ended up going double plat. So it's about growth for me. I'm happy that the people who are listening to it are loving it. It's like having an impact on your life and making them want to aspire to be whatever it is they want to be. Because that's what Unexpected Arrival is about, it's about making your arrival in life special. No matter what people say or if they don't know what you're capable of. It starts with the belief in you before you try to go and look for other people's approval. I'm happy that it's doing that for people." (Karen Civil)

Despite the perceived "low" sales, Diggy's album still managed to debut in the Top 20 of all music sales this week.

Rap newcomer Diggy Simmons' Unexpected Arrival landed at No. 13. In his opening week, the rapper's debut LP pushed out 21,400 units. (SOHH Sales Wrap)

The LP was expected to sell up to roughly 23,000 copies in its opening week.

Atlantic rapper Diggy, whose real name is Daniel Dwayne Simmons III, is the fourth child of Run DMC's Joe "Rev Run" Simmons (brother of Russell) and starred in the MTV reality series, Run's House. Unexpected Arrival, his major label debut after a series of independently released mixtapes, is also on target for 20-23k. (HITS Daily Double)

Diggy recently revealed his father Reverend Run's reaction to the long-awaited debut.

"A couple of weeks before the release, he heard the complete album and he was really impressed," Diggy told MTV News of Reverend Run's reaction on Tuesday. "He was like, 'You know, this is an album that I can turn on and I can leave on and I'd be happy listening to it.'" (MTV)