50 Cent (Plus Naked Ciara) vs. Kanye West

In case you haven’t heard, hip hop mogul 50 Cent has pledged to retire if his newest record “Curtis” which debuted on September 11, sells fewer copies than Kanye’s newest album titled “Graduation” which was released on the same day. The projected sales numbers are skewed in Kanye’s favor, but “Fiddy” may have the upper hand on hot album art work. R&B star Ciara, famous for her recent hits like “Goodies” and “1, 2 Step” poses nude in the album insert photograph. The naked Ciara is pictured in 50 Cent’s arms with her legs wrapped around his waste, giving a pretty clear side view of her “goodies”. We’ve provided a sneak peak with this article.

The official sales projections for the two rappers differ by about 200,000 units with Kanye’s album expected to move 700,000 copies in the first week and 50 Cent’s album only projected to reach about 500,000. Both of these numbers will be less than their previous discs. Even though 50 Cent has pledged to retire, he seems to be making sure that he creates plenty of loopholes in case he needs to wriggle out of it. For example, he has stated that if Kanye’s numbers are significantly higher than his own, it will probably be due to manipulation of the stats by Kanye’s record label. 50 Cent also hasn’t shut the door on his plans to collaborate with other artists for future records; he simply won’t be releasing anymore solo records (or so he says).

Though hip hop is often full of rivalries and competition, something about this one just seems a little too fabricated. The more we hear about this record sales battle, the more it seems to be a brilliant public relations plan to boost the sales of both albums. Think about it. When is the last time you’ve read so many articles and seen so many headlines over something as routine as an album release? And Britney Spears doesn’t count. Anyway, it seems to me that some underpaid PR guy needs a raise, because he has pulled off an amazing campaign which has already kept Kanye and Fiddy in the headlines for weeks (even in mainstream news outlets) thanks to this competition.

Either way, whether Kanye or 50 Cent eventually wins this sales battle, you can’t tell me that either of them has failed. Somehow 500,000 albums sold in one week just doesn’t seem like a failure… especially if a naked Ciara accompanies it.