Back to the Kanye/Fiddy chart battle, and 50 Cent has released an official statement on his rival's chart victory, which is rather gracious. Which is no fun whatsoever. What about the "I'll quit music" pledge Fiddy? Anyway, here's what Associated Press quote him as saying: "I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years. Collectively, we have sold hundreds of thousands of units in our debut week. This marks a great moment for hip-hop music, one that will go down in history". Which is a nice turn around from the alleged sour grapes earlier in the week. Perhaps he's heard that his album is outselling Kanye's in most European countries (other than the UK, obviously).
Meanwhile, Def Jam chiefs Jay-Z and LA Reid, who had the winning album on their roster, have been talking to Billboard about Kanye's impressive sales figures, the chart battle, and the state of the music business in general. Here's what they say...
Jay-Z: "We all know that the [Kanye/Fiddy chart] battle was a one-off. That's not a template on how to do business. We know that we have challenges ahead of us [in regards to the industry's downturn] but we also know that the consumption of music is at an all-time high as well".
LA Reid: "I'm really optimistic about the state of the industry. When you look at these numbers, if I add in [West's] catalogue sales, he's sold 1 million records in one week. That seemed to be a thing of the past and everyone had written it off, saying that people no longer bought albums in these numbers".