50 Cent Graciously Accepts Defeat

By: Yves Erwin Salomon

Hip hop mogul 50 Cent did an about-face and graciously accepted his defeat to Kanye West. The rapper told the Associated Press, "I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years. 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."

West's Graduation sold 957,000 copies its first week in stores to beat 50 Cent's Curtis, which moved 691,000 copies.

West celebrated at GQ magazine's 50th anniversary party on Tuesday night (September 18th). He said, "To be a champion, you've got to take out a champion. It feels overwhelming. Everyone is coming up to me and telling me how proud they are of me."

The rapper added, "My music is really inspirational and I really made it for the people. 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.' This is a really pivotal moment for me, emotionally."