50 Cent Recalls SoundScan Showdown With Kanye west

Five years ago today, September 11th, 50 Cent and Kanye West engaged in a SoundScan Showdown in which they each released their third album on the same day and competed to see who'd bring in the most sales.  50 even upped the ante by announcing that he would retire if Kanye West sold more than him.  In the end, Kanye's Graduation album outsold 50's Curtis album, 957,000 to 691,000.  50 didn't follow through with his retirement.

XXL recently spoke to 50 about that past musical competition, and 50 recalled how they both had no tension or beef with one another whatsoever, and they both used the competition in order to boost their overall sales.

"At the time, I had a stronger feel for the streets [than Kanye], prior to that competition and trying to compete with each other.  That was just to build energy because Kanye [and I]...we didn't have no beef at all. You can't stand that close to someone and take pictures for the cover of Rolling Stone with having beef.

"That was something that we created.  Obviously, it riled the fans up in every way and the results are always bigger sales than usual. Both of the numbers were bigger than what they would have been [without the competition]. It was just great marketing."

Source: xxlmag.com