It’s party time at Def Jam!
Officials Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Jay-Z are celebrating Kanye West’s amazing sales week (957,000 copies sold) against 650 000 for Fifty.
50 Cent is now aknowledging his defeat and being very fairplay about it. “I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years,” he said in a statement released to the Associated Press. “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.”
Def Jam’s CEO, Jay-Z suggests it’s all about creativity. “Artistry wins,” he says. “If you’re going to emulate something, then emulate art. Because you can emulate a record or a trend, but that doesn’t win at the end of the day.”
Jay-Z went on to say that 50 Cent hit a misstep when he focused too narrowly on his previous sales and not on his current songs.
“50, in his arguments, focused on his numbers and sales,” says Jay-Z. “Kanye focused on making the best art that he could make at that time. He wanted to go with ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ and ‘Stronger’ and those records worked in two different markets to perfection — 10 out of 10.”
Another important element is that, despite the amazing buzz over the Kanye West/50 Cent showdown, sales are still down 9% compared to the same week last year.
The global downturn in albums sales seems to be there to be irreversible.
(09.20.07)
