50 Cent not ready to concede sales battle

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Rapper 50 Cent says he is not prepared to concede his personal contest with fellow U.S. entertainer Kayne West over sales of their newly released CDs.

While 50 Cent trails West by six figures in sales of the rappers' newest albums, the "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" artist maintains the race is still in its early stages, Billboard reported Friday.

"(Sales) can't be considered (decisive) anyway because it's just a few days out," he said. "I guess (the music industry) would consider me to be a hip-hop favorite because of my sales history, and people like to root for the underdog."

The new stance by 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, comes after the rapper claimed he would retire if his new album "Curtis" did not sell better than West's new "Graduation" album.

Both CDs were released Tuesday and West took the lead with 781,000 sales, compared to Jackson's 603,000.

Billboard said Jackson also recently announced his label would counter any new albums from West's label, Def Jam Recordings, no matter how the sales contest ended.