Kanye West vs. 50 Cent - Who Won?
It was like an old fashioned boxing match. You had Kanye West, the Muhammed Ali of his day. He’s boisterous, arrogant, talks his mind and dresses for success. 50 Cent is more like Joe Frazier. He’s a brawler, an underdog, and has a throng of fans who don’t like West’s style of music.
Last Tuesday, Kanye West released his third LP, Graduation. It’s a synth/soul record which samples Daft Punk and Michael Jackson. On the same day, 50 Cent released Curtis, a record that has been pushed back a few times this year, and one that 50 has gone back and recorded new songs for after not liking the response his first singles had been receiving. The question people were asking was, “Who is going to sell more records in the first week?” Was it going to be Kanye West, whose best first week sales were for his second album Late Registration? Or was it going to be 50 Cent, who sold over 1 million units during the first week of his sophomore album, The Massacre? The only thing certain is that it was going to be a great day for hip hop in the music stores.
The sales numbers are in. It was really no contest. According to Billboard.com, Kanye West’s Graduation outsold 50 Cent’s Curtis, 957,000 units to 691,000 units. 
In many years, the first week sales numbers will be forgotten and music lovers will only remember each album for it’s lasting impression based on the quality of the music. So far, Kanye has the lead on that as well. According to Epinions.com, Kanye’s album has 11 reviews, with an average rating of 4 1/2 stars (5 is the maximum). 50 Cent’s album has only 4 reviews, with an average rating of just 2 stars.
Who’s next? Mariah vs. Janet?