All dressed up and with nothing to win, rapper Kanye West performed a skit at the "Emmy" awards mocking his ongoing album rivalry with contender 50 Cent.

After being denied a performance on the big stage by MTV and not receiving any of the five awards he was nominated for, West may still have the last laugh.

Marking the album release date for both West's Graduation and 50's Curtis, Sept. 11, 2007 may also be the date Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson retires from the rap industry.

An article on SOHH.com, a Web site that delivers exclusive news about the rap and hip-hop world, stated that 50 said, "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on Sept. 11, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my other artists, but I won't put out anymore solo albums."

"I like both of them. They are both really good, but Kanye is more creative," said Odizeus Beanal, sophomore, Timika, Indonesia.

While this may just be a marketing scheme, the hype 50 built around the album release, has failed him thus far.

According to Billboard.com, as of Sept. 14, West's album was leading the sales race with 781,000 copies compared to 50's 603,000.

50 Cent, however, still remains optimistic, telling the site, "[The sales] can't be considered [any one way] anyway because it's just a few days out."

"I think 50 is more shocked than anything. He thought he was going kill Kanye," said Drew Santos, junior, Marion, Mass.

In fact, 50's previous two albums have sold significantly more copies in the first week than Kanye's past albums.

According to the Los Angeles Times, though West's 2005 album Late Registration sold more than 900,000 copies in its first week, while 50 Cent's album The Massacre sold 1.4 million its first week in stores.

"Kanye has a wider fan base," said Dan Cianciolo, junior, Harwinton. "Kanye's songs have more substance. The lyrics and the production are way better."

The album sales do have 50 questioning his retirement proposal.

Instead of retiring, 50 told New York radio station Hot 97.1, his record label, G-Unit/Interscope will continue to put out an album on the same date as any album being released under Def Jam, home of Kanye West.

Though 50 is causing trouble in the rap world, his beef with West seems to be a media hyped ploy to save struggling album sales.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, a sales tracker in the music industry, through the first half of the year, rap album sales are down 30 percent.

Television stations MTV and BET provided plenty of air time to promote the albums, along with West and 50's cover shot on the new September issue of Rolling Stone magazine.