Kanye West vs. 50 Cent: The Showdown

The biggest debate in hip-hop since Jay-Z vs. NaS will be decided starting today when Kanye West's third album Graduation* goes up against 50 Cent's third album Curtis.

A lot of media types will hype this as a "Battle Of The Titans," which is correct in a way. However, the media types don't seem to be focusing on the music aspect of each album. Instead, they seem to be hyping each artist's ego.

It'd be easy for me to pile on to that debate, but since I've listened to each album completely I am going to analyze Graduation and Curtis for their value in music.

GRADUATION, KANYE WEST

Following the theme of school related titles, West fittingly drops his third album Graduation. The title fits the album well, seeing that Kanye has developed into a bonifide hip-hop star since his first album and you can clearly hear it.

His first album, The College Dropout contained a lot of old school soul samples mixed with fresh drum beats lead by singles "Through the Wire" and "Slow Jamz" while his second album, Late Registration added the sounds of an orchestra and the co-production of Jon Brien to compliment the sounds of sped up soul samples led by the singles "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" and "Gold Digger."

Now with Graduation Kanye takes his game to a whole new level, adding the sounds of a synthesizer, popularized by Timbaland's album Shock Value. Kanye's effort on this album clearly makes it his best work to date.

One of the more noticeable changes is that the album contains no skits which helps move the album along seamlessly. In addition, Kanye has guest spots by only two rappers, Lil' Wayne and Mos Def. Wayne appears on the track "Barry Bonds" while Mos only sings on the track "Drunk and Hot Girls."

With that said, Graduation is more of a dissertation with Kanye wanting the listener to focus on what he has to say rather than what supporting rappers would.

The album is headed by two hot singles, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Stronger." The first single, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" is Exhibit A of Kanye's improved lyrical ability with a slew of consecutive punchlines to go along with the infections "La la la la, wait 'til I get my money right" chorus.

In addition, the pattern of Kanye being one-upped by collaborators (i.e. Common on the track "Get 'Em High or Mos Def on the track "Two Words") ends with the track "Barry Bonds", his collaboration with Lil' Wayne in which 'Ye spits punchline after punchline including the gem " I'm insulted/ you should go 'head/ and bow so hard till yo knees hit yo fo' head."

"Stronger" is more of a club banger with pounding drum sounds that remind the casual hip-hop fan of "Gold Digger." Here Kanye samples Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" perfectly providing hip-hop with a hit that could make its claim as the song of the summer.

The third single "Good Life" features T-Pain, another perfectly timed collaboration because of his recent run of hits. His use of the vocoder blends well with the track. Another intriguing collaboration occurs on the track "Homecoming" which features Chris Martin, the lead singer of the band Coldplay. Another example of Kanye capitalizing on what's hot in music now.

The album closes with the track "Big Brother" which is Kanye's ode to Jay-Z. Really, you can't have Graduation without giving credit to those who helped you get to that point. As a whole, Kanye earns an 'A' with Graduation.

CURTIS, 50 CENT

50 Cent came onto the hip-hop scene strong with his debut Get Rich Or Die Trying, riding the coattails of mentor Eminem, legendary producer Dr. Dre, and the street-banging single "Wanksta." 50 made more early waves with his very public beef with rapper Ja Rule, whose career would be ended by several Eminem and 50 Cent diss tracks.

Since then, 50 Cent's musical career has drastically changed course.

In his second album, The Massacre, 50 seemingly started to sing on tracks which was something he dissed Ja Rule about, discrediting Ja as a rapper.

Though he had several hits from the album including the Dr. Dre produced "Disco Inferno" and the Scott Storch produced "Candy Shop" and "Just A Lil' Bit", 50 felt the wrath of the hip-hop community.

Whether it was his competition who he dissed in the track "Piggy Bank" like Fat Joe, Jadakiss and NaS or former label mate The Game, 50 turned off a lot of fans with his "beefs" in the industry.

50 took some time off from the game to star in a movie loosely based off his life and the accompanying album that didn't fare too well in the mainstream.

Now, 50 returns with his third studio album Curtis challenging West in the music stores. And admittedly, the album isn't completely terrible.

Led by the hit single "I Get Money," also 50 seems to go back to his early days with tracks like "My Gun Go Off", "I'll Still Kill" which features Akon, and "Come & Go" featuring production by Dr. Dre. 50 also changes the pace with the mellow "Follow My Lead" which features R&B singer Robin Thicke. 50's best move is letting singers do the singing while he raps.

However, that is where the compliments end with this album. 50's biggest shortcoming is that he still hasn't evolved lyrically, and that is clear in the smash single "Ayo Technology" which features Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.

Timbaland drops one of his most sinister sounding beats in recent memory, not to mention he raps on the bridge too. Timberlake does his thing, crooning "Aaayooo I'm tired of using technology, why don't you sit down on top of me / Aaayooo I'm tired of using technology, I need you right in front of me."

Bass heavy beats and top-bill collaborators can only take you so far. That's why Curtis can't come close to Graduation. Kanye seems to be able to do it all. His production improves seemingly with every track. Lyrically, Kanye continues to step his game up.

And even though 50 does come up short on the lyrical end of things, hearing the name 50 Cent is almost like hearing about the Yankees--you either love them or you love to hate them--no matter what they do.

Graduation: 5-stars
Curtis: 3-stars

*"Bittersweet Poetry" appears as the I-Tunes bonus and features John Mayer. The Japanese edition of Graduation contains the tracks "Good Night" which features Mos Def and the "Can't Tell Me Nothing Official Remix" which features a new verse from Kanye and an additional verse from Young Jeezy. Those tracks were not taken into consideration when reviewing this album.