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On our way to Williamsburg, I listened to the new 50 Cent and Kanye West CD’s, “Curtis” and “Graduation“, respectively.

Curtis is the typical 50 “I think I’m John Gotti AKA Teflon Don” Cent rap album. Why do I draw the conclusion that he thinks he is the Teflon Don? Maybe because he (or his associates) say it at least once a song. Perhaps because “Don” is an easy word to think of rhymes for….john, megatron, ron, con, Ghost Recon, don (rappers love to two end lines with the same word).
Maybe it was because I had a negative attitude going into my first listen with this CD or maybe it was because I listened to it second, but I didn’t care for many of the songs. In true 50 Cent fashion, there are several titles having to do with guns and killing: “My Gun Go Off”, “I’ll Still Kill”, “Fully Loaded Clip”, “Curtis 187″, and possibly “Fire”. In his defense, I typically don’t like a rap CD in its entirety.
The one thing 50 has going for him is choosing to feature Justin Timberlake on the song “Ayo Technology“. If you listen to pop/hip-hop radio, you have probably heard this song and you may also know it is about pornography. Besides that last point, it has a good beat and features JT, all qualities of a great song. (I also liked the song, “Follow My Lead” featuring Robin Thicke)

Graduation is a typical Kanye CD full of good beats, making fun of college, and relevant and irrelevant samples. Like I previously implied, I listened to this CD first. Songs that weren’t the best:
Barry Bonds - featuring Lil Wayne - maybe its because I’m just not a fan of many of the Lil folks.
Drunk and Hot Girls - featuring Mos Def - I like Mos Def, but this song is terrible…
Then there are the songs you might recognize from the radio: “Stronger” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”. I enjoyed them.

Did anyone notice both CD’s have hits with what I will call electronica in the background? “Stronger” on Graduation and “Ayo Technology” on Curtis (although in Ayo Technology, it sounds more like he sampled background music from a nintendo game)

Kanye makes a reference to not winning some awards, but winning the award for having the most “Chedda” (please see definition #1).

As a side note, what the media hyped record sale contests doesn’t report is the rest of what 50 Cent said. According to an article by the LA Times, 50 Cent already has 12 songs recorded for his next album (which he is still under contract to Interscope Records to release), “Before I Self Destruct”. He also predicted that Kanye’s CD will have a sharp decline in sales in the second week. I assume 50 thinks he will surpass Kanye’s sales in the second week.

We shall see what happens…

According to an article just to me e-mailed by Electronic Vagrant, looks like Kanye West has outsold 50 Cent by over 100,000 CD’s. Great news for those of us who want 50 Cent to retire.
In 50’s defense, he does want to go by Curtis Jackson now and get into movies. And as my future wife pointed out, he did have such cult classics as “In Da Club” and “Candy Shop”.
And don’t feel sorry for 50. If you haven’t heard, he made a cool $400 million thanks to Coke buying Glaceau.

But, I’m glad to see all of you listened and went out and bought Kanye’s CD. My new marching orders are to keep hiding 50’s CD in other places in stores. I don’t expect you to buy more than one Kanye CD…that’s just asking too much….

Clearly, there is a problem with rap/hip-hop today. Mainly, it sucks.
As a side note, Tuesday could mark a big day in hip-hop history. If you haven’t heard, 50 Cent will retire if Kanye West sells more CD’s than he does. Both CD’s come out on Tuesday, so buy Kanye West’s CD….
Personally, I doubt 50 Cent will actually retire or retire for that long (ala Jay-Z).

But, regardless, hip-hop would be much better if artists followed this simple formula.

I’d also like to direct you to figure 4-A on that same page and also comment #7 for a thorough analysis of figure 4-A.