According to Billboard Magazine, Kanye West outsold 50 Cent by a whopping 266,000 copies in the controversial first week of sales. That’s wild, but like I sort of expected. Ironically both camps admitted a face-off was not a smart move as both albums undersold their previous debuts in the hundred’s of thousands. Ultimately both artists made out less than they had in their previous debuts. Never-the-less where part of a media fiasco that lended to the strong sales. Despite the lower than previous units sold those #’s where far surpassed by the albums attention and promotion given to the face-off which was worth its countless weight in gold. I wonder how they both would have done had this not gotten the level of attention it did?

Yes, I bought Kanye’s album. Not suprisingly it was very creative and I’ve been rocking it in my car on the way into work. Although Kanye still is a featherweight in the lyrics department he makes up for the fault in clever, layer heavy, weighty beats that keep your attention on the overall flow of his songs. Kanye has an international appeal about his stuff. I’ve been saying this for years now, but people out of the States seam to have a better appreciation for the hip-hop culture than most of the people here in the U.S. do. Less gun talk, street cred, and more musically inclined genius coming from the underground are the champions of the airwaves and clubs oversees. Why is that? I guess another story for another time. But anyway… back to my point.

Sadly, 50 Cent seams to have revoked his challenge according to the LA Times story that says 50 recorded 12 tracks for a 4th album before ever making the Kanye album sales statement. That album is due out in 2008 ironically titled “Before I Self Destruct” which is also the last under contract with Interscope. I have been looking online for some rebuttal by Kanye but so far haven’t found anything. My suspicions are 50’s retirement will be a page out of Jay-Z’s book making a comeback a year or two afterwards and reluctantly the world has yet to hear the last of Curtis. Oh well. There’s more drama left in the world to contend with…

-Shaun

I sat down with Shine Your Light Radio (a popular Christian music station) this past Saturday as a guest DJ. I was interviewed about Vintage Clothing Limited, my music production company Pinnacle Rhythms, the state of hip-hop, life, and some other things worth listening to. It was a really good interview! We got in-depth on some stuff that I have been wanting to get off my chest for some time now. Plus we got into some great stuff about what it takes to do what we do. How we do it, and what it means for us to be part of it! Definitely check it out!

Download the 26 minute interview as an mp3 file HERE. (12mb)

-Shaun

We had some problems with our shopping cart only allowing UPS shipping rates which resulted in some downtime from our loyal International customers. One of our customers was kind enough to point this out to us and emailed us prompting me to look into the problem. I spent a good part of the week fixing the issue… but now I am happy to say IT’S FIXED!!! And we NOW offer LOWER International Shipping Rates from our online store!

If you visited the store and abandoned your cart because of the “shock” from the shipping… LOL… please go back and login again. Your cart will be in-tact and your items will still be there. Give it another shot and I bet you’ll be happy to find our new lower rates are much more reasonable.

We truly appreciate our International customers. Unlike allot of other companies that don’t offer International shipping… we’re very happy to take the extra time and make sure you don’t get left out. Thanks again for your support!

-Shaun

50’s hot! (for about 3 weeks). I think 50 n Kanye r both going to have great albums, but 50 cent’s will be hot as long as he’s dropping n pushing his singles. Kanye’s joint will be timeless… ( i hope ).

Anyway check out this article I read earlier…

In survey, Puerto Ricans say they’re happiest
By Matthew Hay Brown

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — This U.S. territory of sandy beaches and lush rain forest, close-knit families and endless celebrations is home to the happiest people in the world, according to a new study.
Never mind the low income or the high murder rate, the double-digit unemployment or the troubled public schools. Puerto Ricans say the emphasis on extended family, an easy warmth even among strangers and a readiness to celebrate anything, anywhere, at any time all contribute to a high quality of life here.
“There are over 500 festivals in Puerto Rico, and there are only 365 days in a year,” said Francisco Cavo, a U.S. Army medic at Fort Buchanan, near San Juan. “That’s a lot of fun on the schedule.”
The United States ranked 15th among the 82 societies in the study by the Stockholm-based World Values Survey, which was based on interviews with 120,000 people representing 85 percent of the global population. That put the United States ahead of Britain, Germany, France, Japan, China and Russia, but behind Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ireland, the Netherlands and Canada.
The subjective well-being rankings are one part of an ongoing study of social, cultural and political change by a global network of social scientists.
The rankings are based on responses to questions about happiness and life satisfaction. Generally, the wealthiest nations tend to be the happiest. But Latin American societies, particularly those around the Caribbean — Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic — prove an exception.

Happiness rankings 


Happiest
1. Puerto Rico
2. Mexico
3. Denmark
4. Ireland
5. Iceland
Least happy
78. Russia
79. Armenia
80. Ukraine
81. Zimbabwe
82. Indonesia
The Orlando Sentinel

University of Michigan political scientist Ronald Inglehart, chairman of the survey, calls it “the Latino bonus.”

“They’re not the richest people in the world,” he said. “You seem to get a plus for being Latino.”
Inglehart says determining the reasons requires more study. But in Puerto Rico, at least, Enrique Rodriguez said he already knows.
“We are a small island, and people are nice to each other,” said Rodriguez, a retired government worker who lives in Old San Juan. “Everybody gets along. When we pass in the street, we say hello to each other.
“We have our problems like everyone, but they’re nothing like in Cuba or the Middle East. Even those without jobs have something to eat.”
Cavo, 22, a married father of two, stresses the importance of family.
“We value friends and family a lot,” he said. “I don’t know other countries. But the meaning of what a family is seems to be a little bit different here. It’s not just your wife and kids. It’s your mom and dad, uncles, aunts, all the cousins, everybody who’s got your last name.”
At the other end of the rankings, the former Soviet republics — Ukraine, Russia and Georgia among them — and the formerly communist nations of Eastern Europe, such as Romania, Bulgaria and Albania, are disproportionately unhappy.
“That is not surprising,” Inglehart said. “It’s not that they’re the poorest in the world, but they are societies that have gone from being fairly well-off and fairly secure to being very disoriented — poor, and life expectancy has fallen, and their standard of living has fallen, and their position in the world has fallen.”
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company

-Eric Nine

Ok, we’ve all heard it. 50 Cent said he would “quite rapping and retire if Kanye outsold him”. This statement came as Kanye and 50 are both releasing their albums on the same day, Sept. 11, 2007. I thought this was pretty funny… and I had to chime in with my two cents. Yesterday a local radio station here in Baltimore played both albums back to back. One song of 50, then one song of Kanye, until both albums could be critiqued by call-in and text votes. At the near end point (I was on my lunch break at the time and had to go back in) Kanye was ahead by 68% and climbing. iTunes is following a similar situation, and as of today Kanye’s album is ranked #4 on the top albums (pre-order available only), and 50 Cents album is ranked #27 (pre-order available only). So does this mean 50 will really retire! haha… I doubt it! Even if Kanye does out sell him which at this point due to 50’s mouth could be a possibility… he’ll probably find a way to turn it into a beef or something. Like Nas vs. Jay… it could get ugly.

Truthfully though… In the real world. Does anyone really care?

Side note: I’m a Kanye fan. Underground all the way… but I went to Eric’s myspace page last night and found to my surprise he had a 50 Cent song on his profile. How funny is that!?

-Shaun