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Nearly 15 years ago to the day, 50 Cent claimed his album would outsell Kanye West's Graduation album, and he bet his entire career on it.
On Sunday, September 11, SOHH debuted a brief interview with the Queens, N.Y. native that was shot in 2007. During the conversation, 50 explained why he felt he had the upper hand in his chart battle against Ye, who made headlines for releasing his third studio album on the same day as 50's Curtis LP. Towards the end, we can hear the rapper-actor say that he "won't put out any more solo albums" if Ye sells more records than him.
"Let's raise the stakes," 50 said. "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11th, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my artists but I won't put out any more solo albums."
Kanye West and 50 Cent's race for the best-selling album was one of the most glorified chart wars of the 2000s. As soon as the release dates were confirmed, rap fans couldn't wait to see who would triumph on the charts. A week after both albums dropped, Graduation ended up outselling Curtis by 266,000 units with Ye garnering 957,000 units and 50 earning 691,000.
50 Cent didn't necessarily honor the terms of his own bet since he went on to drop two more solo albums, Before I Self-Destruct (2009) and Animal Ambition: An Untamed Desire To Win (2014), and five mixtapes including his DJ Drama-assisted The Lost Tape (2012) and The Kanan Tape (2015). Fif hasn't dropped a solo project since then but the Power creator obviously moved on to other projects in TV and film.
Over the years, both rappers have evolved into mega artists of their own. While they don't bicker about music the way they used to, 50 and Ye still find topics to argue about. They recently went back-and-forth on Instagram over the authenticity of a post Ye allegedly made about Kim Kardashian's bowel movements. After 50 reposted the comical screenshot, Ye hopped in his comment section and claimed it was a fake image.