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50 Cent Breaks Down the Difference Between Himself and Kanye West During Their 2007 Sales Battle: ‘I Don’t See Him As My Competition’

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50 Cent and Kanye West were both at the peak of their powers in 2007. 50 was the star with hot momentum from Get Rich or Die Trying, the film of the same name, and The Massacre in 2005. G-Unit as an entity was wildly hot, each rapper with highly successful debuts and the group selling everything from video games to Vitamin Water. Meanwhile, Kanye was in the midst of his prime as a rapper and a producer, with classic songs, albums, and moments at every turn.

Consequently, it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed. In 2007, Kanye changed the release of his album Graduation to match 50’s Curtis on September 11th. Then, the pair agreed to battle it out to see who would sell the most. 50 Cent even upped the stakes by saying that he would retire if he couldn’t beat Ye.

Eventually, he’d go back on those comments and keep releasing albums but the stakes were massive. But clearly, he was confident in his own abilities, to the point where he was sick of getting questions about it. In an interview with journalist Ben Westhoff for the Village Voice, 50 said Kanye wasn’t even in his league and that he had the machine behind him. Moreover, he argued that the main difference between them is their audiences. 50 was trying to appeal to the streets while Kanye was apparently getting white kids in his crowd.

50 Cent Didn’t Think It Was a Real Competition When Battling Kanye West in 2007

“But I don’t see him as my competition. We’re so different as artists. He doesn’t have my sales history. I feel like his company’s done a great job of promoting him by putting him out on the same date. Because we’re from the same [genre] to some people we’re just the same, period,” 50 said. “If he even comes close to me, it’s going to look great [for him]. And they’ll probably do everything within their power to make that happen for him.”

Then, 50 Cent responded to the interviewer suggesting that they couldn’t compare because of their different approaches as artists. “With the record that he’s releasing, it’s [clear] that he doesn’t care about the same audience. We’ll see who it actually matters to create for,” 50 continued. “The difference is my not having to compromise myself in any way. Not everything that comes out of my mouth is something you would hear from a role model. I’m inspiring to different classes of people out there, who have similar experiences. My CD reflects the harsh realities.”

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