15 years ago, Kanye West and 50 Cent were in a very public battle over whose new album would outsell the other on their shared release day.
Kanye West blew 50’s sales out of the water selling 957,000 to Curtis’ 691,000, which, according to newly-released footage, should’ve been the end of 50’s career.
via Complex:
SOHH released never-before-seen footage of an interview with 50 Cent taken ahead of their album release showdown where he vowed to never release another solo project if Kanye moved more units than him. “I don’t get trophies, I get the checks. He [Kanye] gets the trophies,” 50 said at the 2:12 mark of the video.
50 Cent has one Grammy, compared to Kanye’s 24 trophies.
“They’d like to see Kanye West give me a problem because I’ve worked myself into a space where I’ve become the favorite,” 50 Cent continued. “Everybody roots for the underdog when he goes against the favorite, but let’s raise the stakes. If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on Sept. 11, I’ll no longer write music.”
50 Cent later clarified that his wager only impacted his own career, not the artists in his own camp. “I won’t put out any more solo albums,” he explained.
50 released two more solo albums after losing his wager: 2009’s Before I Self Destruct and 2014’s Animal Ambition.
The two interacted with one another on social media over the weekend when Kanye reached out to 50 Cent after he reacted to an alleged fake post about Kim Kardashian’s diarrhea problem.
How different things could’ve been if 50 weren’t a liar. Watch the footage below.
