And they’re off!

In the most hyped release since Nelson Mandela left prison, new albums from Kanye West and Fifty Cent hit the stores yesterday.

The 2 rap stars have spent the lead up to the September 11 d-day talking themselves up to the press and their fans.

“I’m ready to take over the world once again. I have a lot to say.  There’s not one artist in the world that has as much responsibility as me. ”

“I’m King Kong. Kanye is human. Humans run when they see King Kong, because they’re scared.”
And that’s Fifty Cent forgetting about the music and concentrating on personal digs to boulster his sales and ego. He has also promised to give up releasing albums if he is outsold by West, a big call for someone who offloaded over 1.1 million copies of his last disc in the first week.

The war of words is a dream for the promoters of both artists, who love nothing more than a ‘Beatles vs Stones’ style rivalry to help drive record sales. Tupac and Biggie had a successful go at it in the 90s, right up until they were gunned down in the streets of their respective cities in cold blood.

This time around it is unlikely that either star will end up shot or even retired, but someone’s got to come second……and rappers tend not to like that very much.

We’ll be watching how both releases fare over the next few weeks.