Kanye Crushes 50 in 1st Week Record Sales!

Imagine an uncharacteristically humble Kanye West, an arrogant-as-usual 50 Cent, and a single stage struggling under the weight of two of the biggest egos in all of entertainment and you'll get a near accurate picture of Black Entertainment Television's September 11th airing of 106th & Park, the music video / talk show which featured the two rap music behemoths. 50 and Kanye sharing a single spotlight is significant enough; but add to that the fact that on that very date both artists had released their highly anticipated third LP's and you have a landmark event in the history of Hip Hip and the entire music industry, as well.

To put this competition in perspective, the two artists' track records are as follows: 50 Cent's debut album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin' '' sold close to 900.000 copies in its first week and went on to move about 7 million units, making it the best selling album of 2003. His sophomore effort, "The Massacre," sold an astonishing 1.14 million copies in it's first week and about 5.1 million in all. Super-producer-turned-rap-star Kanye West sold 3 million copies of his debut, "The College Dropout," then went on to move 860,000 units of his sophomore release, "Late Registration," in its first week (about 2.8 million copies altogether), amassing 6 grammys and 5 BET Awards along the way.

Aggressively promoted for weeks leading up to the event and hyped as the "Clash of The Titans," the heavily anticipated episode did not disappoint. Live performances by 50, who was joined by fellow G-Unit artist and protégé Tony Yayo, had the aptly christened "livest audience" in an uproar, singing along to "I Get Money," and other songs from "Curtis," his new LP. At the end of his last performance, obviously satisfied with the crowd's reaction, 50 repeatedly stated, "Kanye West can't do that!"