Curtis vs Graduation what album did you buy?

Showdown!! 50 cent vs. kanye west, who will be the king of hip-hop? The beef is fake, but who will take the crown and sell the most albums?

As if you haven't figured it out by now, the "beef" between 50 cent and Kanye West was devised by the two artists in order to help the music industry due to the weak album sales during this year. (Kanye West even stated on the MTV awards that this was a marketing scheme) Music sales have been very poor over the last few years, but 2006 reached a new high for poor sales. This year album sales have been in the double digit decline and the industry in all genres, hasn't spun any real "blockbusters".

"We need both of these albums to be successful", those are two of our superstars," says music publishing executive Big Jon Platt. "It's been a trying year for the business, in urban music for sure.

According to Nielson Soundscan album sales are down 14% compared to this time last year and multi-platinum stars are no longer going multi platinum. Even cd's that were supposed to be strong sellers such as TI vs TIP weren't the smashes that the industry had hoped for. The top selling album this year so far has been by Daughtry (of American Idol fame) which sold 1.9 million copies. So with this dim outlook it is no wonder that these two hip-hop heavyweights decided to pull this fabulous marketing scheme. As I said before the major News broadcasts such as FOX5 here in Washington DC are covering this "historical clash of the titans (or ego) event".

With all the hype and media coverage surrounding this event, the most important issue of all has been lost - the quality of the music. Now I have heard both of the albums on the radio and I wasn't impressed with 50 cent. To me it is the same ole same no creativity. He in my opinion takes his listeners for granted, he feels he can give us the same tired material and that we are going to accept it, and put more money in his pocket. Money is what both of these artists crave and unfortunately with all this hype the consumer
will be filling up both of their pockets. People will flock to the stores on September 11th, some hoping 50 would stay true to his initial statement of retiring and others who want their favorite artist to be on top. But will anyone be satisfied with what they get?

Mo Money, Mo Money, Mo Money is what this is all about but to me it seems as if with this album Kanye is looking to achieve more than album sales. He wants that fame and recognition more than the album sales. He wants the grammys, the MTV, the American music etc. awards more than album sales. He needs to fill that ego and would probably be happy with 100,000 sales if he won the award for album of the year. He doesn't seem to crave money as much as he craves the spotlight, unlike 50 cent whose main purpose of existing in the game is about the paper. Don't get me wrong Kanye wants money as well, but I don't think he would put out crap in order to get dollars. 50 will put anything in a package and move on to the next project if it means adding more 0's to his ever growing bank account. 50 suffers from that Rod Tidwell syndrome of "show me the money" and it is his true fans that will suffer in this whole media frenzy. Hopefully his fans will feel that they got their money's worth - but I highly doubt it. I surely didn't when I bought his previous material which was mediocre at best with the exception of his Get rich or Die Tryin which made 50 a household name. I still bump that in my car today. Maybe I am maturing while 50 is staying the same, or maybe 50 is just trying to aim for the younger crowd, who knows. The hunger he had with that first cd is gone, and has been for many years.

I personally feel that 50 will probably outsell Kanye but Kanye's music will be more satisfying to the purchasers of his material. 50's album Curtis has been pushed back numerous times, he was asked by his label to redo or put new tracks on the disk, and in all actuality there really wasn't much of a buzz or care about 50's new release until the Get Money track was put out. As I said numerous times before it is the beat surely not 50's lyrics that make that song what it is. I was feeling the original way back in the day.

50 is a marketing genius or maybe we are all stupid by playing into his hands and letting the matter escalate to the point where mainstream outlets are covering his escapades. Who knows this may be the problem with society today, always wondering about so called celebrities and giving recognition to those who surely don't deserve it. I guess the beef brings back the days of old school rap when artists when head to head but this "battle" just doesn't live up to the old school days. Maybe it is because the two artists are so different that it is kind of funny comparing the two. One does uplifting positive thought provoking music, while the other performs the same material consisting of degrading black women and lets buy or sell drugs and let's see how much money I can get or better yet let me brag to my fans about how much money I have and how much better than you that I am. This beef is not like the days of Mc Shan and Krs1 it is done purely for the Benjamins! Boy how rap has changed, but that is a whole other story in itself.

Well forget the hype surrounding the madness, forget the "pretend beef words" spoken amongst the artists, tell me what album you bought and if it was worth it by posting your comments here: http://www.50centvskanye.com