Twelve years ago today, arguably the greatest marketing stunt in rap history pushed Kanye West's Graduation and 50 Cent's Curtis to astronomical first-week sale numbers, creating a rollout template still mimicked throughout hip-hop today.
In the midst of an era in which 95 percent of music available online was being illegally downloaded, 50 Cent and Kanye West managed to spark up their fanbases enough to nearly crack a million first-week sales.
The premise was simple; whichever album sells the lesser amount first week, the creator of said album had to retire from music altogether. Fearful of the embarrassment of their favorite artist and selfish more music in the future, fans created a sports-like atmosphere of a competition that they controlled.
The atmosphere on 106&Park's(rest in peace) set felt like a packed Game 7 arena, as the uncontrollable screams of fans interrupted the very voices they came to hear from.
Despite being a few years removed from his prime, 50 Cent was still one of the biggest names in rap. Kanye West, on the other hand, was just getting started, as College Dropout took freed him from the box of being strictly a producer and Late Registration had some of the biggest hits of his career like "Gold Digger" and "Touch the Sky". Even in the above video it's clear Kanye is just getting started, from his description of having to perform on small award stages to him having to remind 50 Cent that he's more than a producer.
An established legend versus a budding superstar. It was clear why fans rushed to the store to make sure their career wouldn't come to an end.
However, in the end it was clear that this was just the beginning for the budding superstar, as Kanye West ran away with the competition.
Graduation outsold Curtis by nearly 300,000 copies and would go on to be labeled as a certified classic, while Curtis was touted as a "heavily downgraded" version of his past works. Graduation is what many consider peak-Kanye, from the vulnerability West displays to the soulful production and social activism. The content matched the timeless Murakami cover artwork. Curtis' content was about sex and killing.
Critical analysis aside, the quantitative return of the artistic competition was revolutionary, as the loser of the sales outsold the third highest hip-hop album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., by 200,000 units.
Although not as explicitly stated as 50 Cent vs. Kanye West, the idea of sales competition in rap is still prevalent today and working just as well. Look no further than Drake vs. Pusha T just last year. Pusha T baited Drake into a battle on Daytona and debuted higher than ever before on Billboard. Think back to the fan momentum Drake drew for Views after his battle with Meek Mill. Go back a few months to the sales increase DJ Khaled saw after his attack of Tyler, the Creator.
The examples are endless. Rap becomes a sport when there is competition and the sales are able to serve as the score. It's similar to the attendance increasing in a sport when the games go from exhibition to counting against the team's record. Fans are more likely to support when they want an artist they like to win.
50 Cent and Kanye West illustrated this twelve years ago, and the template is still followed today.