• You know 50 Cent’s finally finished sulking when he starts manufacturing beef again. []

• Oh, jeez. Now we’re talking eco-friendly diapers? [People]

• Happy Birthday, Ashanti! Too bad Nelly can’t give you some hit singles as a gift. [C&D]

• Lily Allen’s secret black half-sister doesn’t look very happy, for obvious reasons. [MG]

• Ann Coulter sucks, and I’m joining my fellow Jossip Initiatives editors in never writing about her ever again! Search “Ann Coulter” on Stereohyped, and you’ll see that this isn’t much of a sacrifice. [Jossip]

If there was any question that the huge opening week both Kanye and 50 Cent had was based almost entirely around their hyped battle, the fact that sales dropped by 76 percent for Kanye and 79 percent for 50 in the second week should answer it once and for all — although I’m sure Kanye would want me to mention that he still sold more records than his foe.

Their rapid decline was good news for Reba McEntire, who took the number one spot and probably pissed Kenny Chesney off big time.

Squeezing in at the bottom of the top 10 were Chamillionaire and Twista, who maybe should have made a bigger deal out of going head-to-head on their album debuts this week in order to get higher numbers. Check out the top 10 after the jump.

CONTINUED »

As 50 Cent nurses his incredibly bruised ego, canceling shows all over Europe and grumbling to anyone who will listen about how Interscope dropped the ball, I can think of one thing that will make him feel better. There’s this new-ish song called “Stronger,” and I’ve heard it has helped some people through hard times. It’s by this rapper named Kanye West? Oh, you’ve heard of him? Of course…

Kanye West’s “Graduation” (Def Jam) easily leads the star-studded class of Sept. 11 releases, posting The Billboard 200’s largest sales total in more than two years. Nielsen SoundScan will show West’s album moved 957,000 during its first six days when the tracking service refreshes its charts tomorrow morning (Sept. 19).

Also pumping album volume are 50 Cent’s “Curtis” (G-Unit/Interscope), which will lock down the No. 2 slot with 691,000 sold. Kenny Chesney’s “Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates” (BNA/Sony BMG Nashville) will bow at No. 3 with 387,000 copies.

Damn Kenny Chesney! It was a great week for hip hop, but not so much for country. Pick a better week next time, KC.

_{I’m full of advice this morning.}
[]

• And of course Fred Thompson also says, “Hell no, I won’t go!” [HP]

• Now that you have your star, Jamie, can you class it up a little bit when you’re out on the town? Just a little. [EUR]

• 50 Cent cancels some European gigs because of “unforseen and unanticipated circumstances,” aka, the dying moments of his career. [SP]

• And did he also cause the death of Vivica’s? []

• That’s a mighty happy jacket Nas is wearing for his birthday. [SOHH]

• Bob Johnson recent experiences with racism come from white people not understanding how insanely, unimaginably rich he is. [WP]

• Despite Mychal Bell’s conviction getting overthrown, protesters will still rally Thursday for the Jena 5. []

• I can’t really be mad. The cash is really all 50 Cent has left. []

• Oh, the conundrum of American history — celebrating the beginning of our country means celebrating something else a lot more sinister. [DP]

• The NAACP continues to rally for a North Carolina black man they say is wrongly accused of raping and murdering a young woman. [WRAL]

• I had no idea Ludacris had it in him. Nice work. [SR]

• And an obnoxious man’s spirit is officially broken. [CL]

• Just put the hate back on Flav. Put it back on, now. [C&D]

• Will Mariah Carey show up for the unveiling of this stamp, too? []

• Maybe one day Shar Jackson will have her own thing, but, for now, she’s totally fine riding on the Britney Spears train. [Bossip]

With the tentative word being Kanye West will thoroughly trounce 50 Cent in their race for a number 1 debut on the charts, the loser in the battle royale is getting some preliminary sour grapes in before he has to deal with next weeks Billboard charts.

First, the blame game:

“To be honest the process of selling this record hasn’t been fun,” 50 Cent said. “I’m happy with the performance, but I’m not happy with the set up. We had conference calls and after we created this plan, nobody actually had a plan.”

…50 Cent also said that he was finished with Interscope after the release of his next album, which will fulfill his contractual obligations to the label.

“It was the label,” 50 Cent said. “They’re dropping the ball all over the place. I’ll release my next album and then I’m a free agent.”

Then the unabashed sore-losing:

50 Cent also issued a warning to Def Jam, claiming he would release a new album every time the label had a big release.

“Hypothetically, if I came in under Kanye West, I would release a new album every time Def Jam had a priority. I would release a record verses every one of their top priorities,” 50 Cent said.

But I thought if you lost you weren’t going to… Nevermind. No one really believed that anyway.

[AHH]

On 106 & Park’s big Sept. 11th showdown — which really turned out to be more of a lovefest during which 50 half-heartedly professed his superiority over Kanye, and Kanye whole-heartedly professed his undying love for Jay-Z — Kanye West attempted to explain away his MTV tantrum, first with the prepared statement given to him by his handlers and then in his own, emotional words. In short, his feelings are hurt. So far, his brief boycott of MTV certainly hasn’t hurt him in the nation’s record stores, where he’s outselling 50 Cent 2-1.

Despite my less-than-enthusiastic feelings about T-Pain, I like this song and video, even though the latter comes off as an “I’m too busy right now to shoot a serious video, so why don’t we add some animation” sort of thing. No matter. Rumors are swirling that Kanye (and possibly even Kenny Chesney) are on track to whup 50’s ass. Welcome to the good life.

It’s one thing to read that Kanye West had a backstage tantrum at the VMAs and see the words on a page. It’s another thing entirely to hear it. Is he serious about giving a black man a chance, though? Because Chris Brown managed to spend a pretty lengthy amount of time on the main stage.

Anyway, somehow, through it all, I remain on Team Kanye. Although it is starting to have less to do with my affection for Kanye as a person and more to do with my utter distaste for all things 50.