After weeks of angelic, or rather archangel-like, behavior from 50 Cent, the incendiary emcee is, once again, striking up controversy, this time with fellow emcee Lil Wayne. According to 50 Cent, the world may be impressed with Wayne’s near-million first-week sales numbers for Tha Carter IV, but he’s not a believer and is calling the album’s first-week sales figures “suspect.”
Back in August, Wayne seemed to do the impossible when he nearly matched the million-plus first-week sales of Tha Carter III with his latest release, Tha Carter IV, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 with sales of 964,000 copies.
But in a recent interview with GlobalGrind, 50 Cent said that he doesn’t believe the sales figures.
“To be honest with you, the Lil Wayne sales are a little suspect to me. Because it was trending 600,000 pieces that week. And they didn’t do a million copies, it was like 900,000,” said Fif.
50 Cent admitted that Tha Carter III was worthy of its massive sales but maintained that Wayne’s follow up just doesn’t match up.
“Tha Carter III was definitely hot. He did that,” said 50. “Tha Carter III commanded that energy, but the last one that just came out, those numbers are funny.”
Following the release of Tha Carter IV, rumors spread that Cash Money CEO Birdman boosted the mammoth sales of the album by buying extra copies of the LP. However, Birdman later denied the claims.
“Nah, man, that really don’t make no sense. Why would we do that?” Birdman said to MTV News. “I press and distribute ‘em. Ain’t no need for me to buy ‘em. That’s hustling backwards.”
Waynenor Birdman have yet to respond, but considering Wayne’s fearless response to a recent high-profile jab from Jay-Z, it won’t be a surprise if he does retaliate. – nicholas robinson
