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Kanye West Bests 50 Cent In Album Sales Showdown

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 20, 2007

It's not like Kanye West needed an ego boost, but here it comes: His 'Graduation' album trounced 50 Cent's 'Curtis' in the much-hyped rap sales showdown with nearly 1 million copies sold the first week, the best debut of the year for the struggling music industry.

West has sold about 957,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures posted by the industry Web site Billboard.com on Tuesday night. In comparison, 50 sold 691,000 copies of 'Curtis.'

'It feels overwhelming,' a humble West said Tuesday. 'Everyone is coming up to me and telling me how proud they are of me.'

50, who is planning a world tour for his album, was conciliatory in defeat. In a statement he said: 'I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years. Collectively, we have sold hundreds of thousands of units in our debut week. This marks a great moment for hip-hop music, one that will go down in history.'
Judge Orders Drug Tests For Britney

Britney Spears has been ordered to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week, according to court documents in her custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline.

The order was issued Monday by a judge who required both parents to refrain from drinking and using drugs around their two young children and 12 hours before either cares for them. Only Spears was ordered to submit to testing.

The judge also said Spears must meet for eight hours a week with a parenting coach who will observe and report back to the court about her parenting skills.

Bowie Gives $10,000 To Jena Six
David Bowie has donated $10,000 to a legal defense fund for six black teens charged in an alleged attack on a white classmate in the tiny central Louisiana town of Jena.

The British rocker's donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund was announced by the NAACP as thousands of protesters were expected to march through Jena today in defense of Mychal Bell and five other teens. The group has become known as the Jena Six.

'There is clearly a separate and unequal judicial process going on in the town of Jena,' Bowie said Tuesday.

Bell was found guilty on second-degree battery charges June 28 by a six-member, all-white jury. Before the case was overturned by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, his sentencing had been set for today. The court said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the alleged December 2006 beating, shouldn't have been tried as an adult.

McConaughey Fills In For Wilson

Matthew McConaughey is taking Owen Wilson's role in the comedy film 'Tropic Thunder.'

Wilson dropped out of the DreamWorks movie after an apparent suicide attempt last month.

'Tropic Thunder,' which is filming in Hawaii, stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, Bill Hader and Steve Coogan.

'Tropic Thunder' is about a group of actors who gather on a remote island to shoot a big-budget war movie and are forced to become the soldiers they are playing.

Today's Birthdays

Actress Sophia Loren is 73. Actor Gary Cole is 51. Rapper Yung Joc is 25.

Source: The Associated Press

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