50 was selling more records than Kanye at that point. He was coming off the massacre which sold a lot of records.
the massacre sold records cuz of the iovine hype machine and 50's name with this being the follow-up to GRODT.
the actual reception for the album was chitty, ESPECIALLY in the streets. that chit was weedplate status in the hood. 50 been done. the mainstream, the casuals, as well as the youngns at the time just catch on to things an album or two after the fact. the curtis album was the result of it.
thats why 50 lost so much momentum with every release afterwards. if 50 wasnt on a power label, he wouldve already faded into oblivion by '07. the machine and his shenanigans & gimmicks(like this "sales battle") are what kept him afloat.
Didn't say Kanye didn't have the better album, I'm just saying them going head to head is what the record labels used as an interest gauge and when Kanye won they figured that hiphop was moving in a new direction which is away from the street shyt and more into the suburban/diva shyt.
the record labels were pushing in that direction for years before this breh.
theyve been weeding out the street guys since all the mergers & such in the early '00s. they were pushing towards keeping the street rap alive thru middle class hood guys that had less baggage & "were more civilized", yet still legit.
there was a guy on sohh that was giving out all that info. it fell on death ears, but dam near all that chit went down.
and kanye's comeup was always questionable. how you on f*ckin rocafella and you become dam near a household name before your debut drops? that chit was always fughaze.
. no way he was winning that.
foh 50 that shyt was not as big a deal as youre trying to make it. people always try to frame the sales battle as some kind of street rap vs alt rap showdown but graduation just had better promotion, hype, music, and 50 had already kind of dropped the ball on the massacre
