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For Don Toliver, this past week has been the culmination of a long road of consistent, hard work. The Houston rapper, signed to Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Records in partnership with Atlantic, has been steadily releasing albums over the past six years, with each project debuting in the top 10 of the Billboard 200.
But this week, he finally climbed the summit. The MC’s fifth album, OCTANE, became his first album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200, debuting this week with 162,000 equivalent album units, good for the best week of his career. And doing it in a crowded January, amid huge moments including the Grammys, the Super Bowl and major releases from the likes of Zach Bryan, A$AP Rocky and more, has made it all the more impressive that OCTANE cut through and succeeded. And that helps make his A&R and manager at Cactus Jack, and founder of three times LOUDER, Sickamore, Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Sickamore — who has held high-level A&R roles at Def Jam, Epic, Atlantic and Interscope through the years — talks about what went into helping OCTANE reach the summit, the rollout strategy for the project, and why hip-hop is here to stay. “Hip-hop is a culture, not a genre,” he says. “It comes from a real place. It’s the voice of the unheard.”
This week, Don Toliver’s OCTANE became his first-ever No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
The biggest decision was when to drop. We felt confident in OCTANE as a body of work, but needed to be strategic on our release date. January was a minefield: Taylor Swift, A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, Super Bowl LX, Zach Bryan. Ultimately, we went with a contrarian idea: what if music’s biggest weekend, The Grammys, was also the least busy?
This is Don’s fifth top 10 album on the Billboard 200, but at 162,000 equivalent album units, it’s also his best week ever. How did you go about putting this album together differently than previous releases?
It starts with Don’s work ethic. Five solo albums plus two JACKBOYS compilation projects in a little over six years. We worked nonstop on OCTANE throughout 2025, creating the music and world-building simultaneously. We learned something with every album, but the biggest differentiator on OCTANE was having all our videos, content and physicals ready before announcing. We weren’t leaving anything on the table this time around.
What was the rollout strategy for OCTANE, and how did you guys pull it off successfully?
Cactus Jack prides itself on rollouts. Don, [Cactus Jack CEO] David Stromberg, Travis [Scott] and myself wanted to come out, throw a flurry of punches and not give anyone time to think. We dictated the flow: trailer, videos, livestream, tour announcement. The new Atlantic regime supported us fully every step of the way. Along with UTA, we felt unstoppable.
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What was your physical and merch strategy with the album’s release?
Cactus Jack rewrote the merch playbook years ago. It’s always the same: build a world for fans to believe and get lost in. Sales come with buy-in.
“Body” also became his first No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, and with 17 songs on the list this week, he’s just the sixth artist to have that many in a single week, alongside Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Baby, Playboi Carti and Travis Scott. Why do you think this album has resonated so much with fans and at DSPs?
I feel this album resonated with fans because it’s really, really good. Everyone can relate to a car ride, and this album is a late-night, going 120 mph. Don took real chances with the songwriting, and the production — led by 206DEREK — is experimental and pushed sonic boundaries. Not to mention the clever sample usages. I believe people appreciate OCTANE’s ambition.
You’ve been in hip-hop for over 20 years. How has it changed, and how do you keep up?
My role in hip-hop as an OG and a leader is to keep pushing forward, not to keep up. Keep new voices to the forefront. I don’t take the seat I’m in for granted. There’s been a lot of talk about the demise of hip-hop, but we will never die. You see the influence in Afrobeats, reggaeton, and music worldwide. The kids are saying 2026 is the new 2016, and they are right. Don, Cole, Rocky, Baby Keem, Jack Harlow, Drake, Ye — who’s losing steam? Sorry Gene Simmons, but we aren’t stopping.