Finally, we've arrived at the most over-hyped day in the history of album releases. The first-week sales battle between Kanye West, 50 Cent and Kenny Chesney begins.

 

The anticipation is nearing fulfillment - you've heard the singles, you've read some reviews and you've saved your suggested $16.99 (yeah, right), so you're all ready to head to the record store iTunes Torrentspy and get down on that shit. But first, you should read our little comparison here.

 

The Battle of K5K:



Album: 50 Cent - Curtis

 

 

Label: Aftermath, Interscope, Shady

 

Stats: Production from Dr. Dre and Timbaland, guest appearances from Akon, Justin Timberlake and Nicole Scherzinger

 

Conclusion: Despite the deafening swagger this cat swings with, I predict he'll lose the sales battle flat out. 50 hasn't really had a solid single in almost two years, commercially speaking, so all he's really got to go on is his celebrity. But that name will count for a lot.

 

50 has all but written the manual on branding, so his name alone should carry sales without a problem - God knows "Ayo Technology" isn't going to do it for him. We appreciate you trying so hard in that second verse Fif but seriously, slow down and e-n-u-n-c-i-a-t-e if you need to.

 

Right now, 50 pretty much embodies everything that sucks about hip hop. Even though his self-hype is out of control on the scale of the Nazi regime, 50 can't seem to convince anyone other than himself that he's interesting - the school bully never had many friends.




 

 

 

Album: Kenny Chesney - Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates

 

 

Label: BNA Records

 

Stats: Features contributions from Joe Walsh and George Strait, in addition to Chesney's fastest-climbing Number One Single ever, "Never Wanted Nothing More" and his highest debuting single ever "Don't Blink."

 

Conclusion: Here's the deal with Kenny Chesney - the dude's fanbase just keeeeeps growing. It's been more than 12 years since Kenny released his first gold album and he's still breaking his own records - most recently with the first two singles from Just Who I Am. This is what we call artist development and Nashville still has quite a grip on it, despite breakout success stories via reality TV talent shows.

 

In addition to his record-breaking single releases, there's this whole ‘illegal download' thing. The fact that Kenny's upcoming album leaked a week later than 50's or Kanye's is telling and judging by country music's demonstrable chart power in the post-Napster world, Kenny could easily be the week's top seller.

 

The only real "problem" with this album, from the outset, is that it doesn't have a single Kenny Chesney-penned song on it. Instead, it might just ride out some success with Dwight Yoakam's "Wild Ride," featuring Joe Walsh in a cover version that allmusic.com called "ridiculous." Woops. Maybe not.

 

 

 

Album: Kanye West - Graduation

 

Label: GOOD Music, Island Def Jam, Roc-A-Fella

 

Stats: Production from Kanye, DJ Toomp, Jon Brion and Timbaland, guest appearances from T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Mos Def, John Mayer and Chris Martin.

 

Conclusion: With three solid singles, two Hype Williams-directed clips and a very viral parody video in the can, Kanye has had the most solid pre-release buzz going in this little battle.

 

After receiving help from (or at least milking connections with) Daft Punk, Chris Martin, John Mayer and well, let's be honest, 50 Cent, Kanye has Kenny and 50 beat on pure crossover appeal alone. On top of that, he made good on a track that features the horrendously computerized vocals of T-Pain, aka R. Kelly 2.0 except not as good.

 

Ye represents pretty much everything 50 Cent doesn't. He's colorful, smart, somewhat progressive and witty - and that's on top of the fact that he's one of the more experimental producers in hip hop. That's not saying a whole lot, but to sample Can and Daft Punk in an age where "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" and "A Bay Bay" can both be hits, Graduation is a grand slam of creativity.

 

As for topping Kenny Chesney, Kanye has the urgency of blog-speed record buying on his side. Being an urban artist, Kanye gets the first week trend appeal that Chesney could never dream of.