Joost Blog

For the last two months in the world of hip hop, all eyes have been on the throwdown between 50 Cent and Kanye West. For those of you who haven't heard, here's the story:

Originally slated for release on September 18th, Kanye West decided to move the US release date of his new album, Graduation, to September 11th — which just happened to be the same day that Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson was set to release his new album, Curtis.

And thus, a beef was born.

50 Cent said he'd hang up his mic and retire if Kanye's album outsold his in the first week. After a public (but insincere) reconciliation, 50 said that he knew his threat was idle because he's sold something like four times as many records as Kanye.

While I applauded 50's chest-thumping confidence at first, I'm starting to think his late-round antics may hurt his chances. He's made Kayne the underdog in this battle. And coming from the streets, 50 should know that everyone roots for the underdog. My money would have been on 50 Cent upfront, but now I'm kind of pulling for Kanye.

In the meantime, the media binge continues — the pair co-presented an award at last night's VMAs and will face off on BET's 106 & Park on Tuesday night — but the ultimate heavyweight champion has yet to be crowned. The albums drop this week, so soon we'll see who takes the prize, and who's left to lick his wounds and possibly retire (though if 50 ends up short, I suspect a "comeback" album won't be far behind, a la Jay-Z).

So who do you think deserves to win? Who's got the goods to back up all this hype? To judge for yourself, check out videos from their newest albums on the 50 Cent v. Kanye West Channel.