kevin.

This title implies that there even was a 2006 (or 2005) edition, of which I'm not sure, but 50 Cent's highly-publicized declaration that he'd "retire" (oh pleeeeease) if Kanye West's new album Graduation outsold 50's Curtis in their simultaneous first week will reportedly backfire, though not for lack of trying. HITS reports that 50 Cent's album will check in at a very impressive 600,000 copies sold, but unfortunately well short of Kanye's massive 800,000.

First of all, the retirement threat is a bit useless after Jay-Z's hollow retirement pledge (hell, Tupac has been dead for a decade and still drops new singles every once in a while). Additionally, 50 Cent, ever the master of lexicon, said he simply won't put out any solo records as 50 Cent, whateverthatmeans.

More notable in this story…

Behind MTV.com's suspicious "disappearing editorial" / punknews

Tiger Army to headline Hot Topic Tour this fall / altpress.com

John Vanderslice goes on tour... on the internet? / Gorilla vs. Bear

Kanye West teams up with Zach Galifianakis / stereogum

Vedera signs with Epic Records / mammoth press

Abacus Recordings shuts down, bands rescued by Century Media / metal underground

New songs from Mae. They keep getting better. [myspace]

Kelly Clarkson throws down with Hannah Montana [HITS]

Avail gets a well-deserved shout out [Idolator]

Listen to the new Lorene Drive songs before your friends do [myspace]

The new Kanye West video looks more expensive than a Spielberg movie [OnSmash]

Bad Brains makes comeback, fails to stop being a reggae band [Onion AV Club]

The new Kanye video looks like it has an absolutely absurd budget (from onsmash.com)