50 Cent recently released a statement in response to his loss in the chart race against Kanye West.
West's Graduation debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 by shifting 957,000 copies of his discs. 50's Curtis came in at No. 2, selling 691,000 copies.
Prior to the release of their albums last week, 50 told SOHH that he would retire if he was outsold by Kanye. On the eve of the Nielsen SoundScan figures, the G-Unit boss would claim that Kanye's record label, Def Jam, manipulated the sales.
50 did not address his retirement vow or the foul play accusations in his conciliatory statement.
"I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years," 50 told the Associated Press. "Collectively, we have sold hundreds of thousands of units in our debut week. This marks a great moment for hip-hop music, one that will go down in history."
Kanye reportedly celebrated his victory at GQ's 50th anniversary party yesterday (September 18) where he was congratulated by Beyonce, Jay-Z and Sean 'Diddy' Combs. He performed his latest single "Good Life" and talked about his victory.
"To be a champion, you've got to take out a champion," Ye said. "It feels overwhelming. Everyone is coming up to me and telling me how proud they are of me."
Graduation has now captured the largest first-week sales since 50 Cent's last album, The Massacre, which opened with 1.1 million copies in its first week in March 2005. Kanye's sophomore release, Late Registration, released in August of 2005, was the last album to surpass 800,000 copies in first week's sales, when it scanned 860,000 CDs.
Kanye claims that the quality of his music and his fans loyal support is the reasons why he surpassed 50 in sales
"My music is really inspirational and I really made it for the people," he explained. "I really understood that in this Internet age people are their own superstars ... the best bet that we had was to make a soundtrack to their own lives."
"With all the negativity that the press tries to put on me, this perception that they try to create of me being a really bad person, for so many fans to go out and say, 'We still want to buy Kanye's album,' means a lot to me," he continued. "This is a really pivotal moment for me, emotionally."
Jay-Z, who collabaoted with 50 Cent on the remix to his single "I Get Money," revealed that the G-Unit honcho's setback will benefit him in the long run.
"The worst thing about success is it makes you complacent," Hov explained. "I think when you face any type of adversity it makes you dig deep ... everyone goes through it, all the greats go through it. In his music, he hadn't gone through any type of adversity. He'll come back and make great music."