From the looks of it, 50’s Before I Self Destruct is destined to blow up right in his face. After heavy promotions and a week of Internet sales, the Jamaica Queens rapper’s fourth album is projected to sale something in the neighborhood of 150,000 units in its first week.

A far cry from his expectations for sure, 50 has all but decided the onus of record sales is not on him.

“With the actual outcome of the project, once the record leaks from the international plant, what more can I do,” 50 explained in an interview with Funkmaster Flex last night. “I can’t, I held the record long enough to get it to them, to mix and master it and for them to ship it and then it leaks from the plant internationally, I’m like come on, then that’s it.

“They lost the ball. You know what I mean, if the numbers look funny to me, it’s they fault.”

He continued to defend himself in an interview with BET, offering his success rate isn’t so much dependent on album sales anymore.

“If I was in the space where I absolutely needed finances from the actual sales of the record, it might mean something, but if it offers the material that I can go out and perform and make everyone enjoy themselves as much as I enjoyed myself making it, Ill be happy with it.”

The Jamaica Queens product took to the radio airwaves to retort to a few things, Jay Z and Kanye West, among his targets.

After the “Flight 187″ controversy, you kinda knew it was only going to be a matter of time before the G Unit Commander In Chief said his peace. During a nearly 30 minute long interview, 50 went bad on the Rocafella boys, calling Jay Z a “punk” and Kanye “gay.”

This of course was a direct result of an interview Jay did overseas last week. When he was asked about the Kanye West VMAs interjection, the rapper defiantly opined that his understudy would have done the same thing had it been 50 accepting the award for best female video (tah!).

“No one is scared of 50 Cent,” he said. “I want everyone to be clear. No one is scared of 50 Cent.”

50 also offered that his Interscope labelmate Eminem is unhappy with the final version of “Forever,” featuring himself, Lil Wayne, Drake and Kanye West. As he has the inside track, 50 allowed that Slim Shady had no idea he was going to be on a collaboration with multiple artists and that he would have preferred to either know or drop his verse and left it at that.

Oh, and the image of him you see is said to be the official album cover for Before I Self Destruct, which is now slated for a November 17th.

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The on again off again Soundscan battle between 50 Cent and Jay Z is… on again? In a perfect world it would be, but 50 Cent, AKA Curtis Jackson, is apparently savvy enough to avoid another beatdown AND preserve his credibility in one swift phone call.

“I wouldn’t mind [that], either,” the rapper told MTV via telephone. “But it’s just, the scheduling is different. Maybe he’ll move back. … Yeah, it’d be good.”

Only two years ago, 50 challenged Kanye West on the same date, losing miserably in the process. He allows though, that neither of them won then and neither he nor Jay would win if their release dates collide next month.

“I tell you who wins: the Universal Music Group,” 50 continued. “The both of us are on Universal Music Group. So as long as you create the largest-selling [day] from there, it hasn’t done anything to strain any of my business in any other way.”

50’s Before I Self Destruct has been pushed back several times, but is now confirmed for a September 29th release. Jay Z’s Blueprint 3 is slated to drop on September 11th.

According to an unnamed source in G-Unit’s camp, 50 Cent was planning on releasing his fourth solo album, Before I Self Destruct, on September 11th – the same day Blueprint 3 is slated to drop.

50 waged a similar Soundscan war with Kanye West when he released Curtis, only to lose to 808s & Heartbreaks by a quarter of a million copies.

After having had this effort pushed back several times, he appeared primed for another battle with the Rocafella Records Commander In Chief.

However, as of this morning, Fif informed MTV that he will be releasing his album on September 29th. It would suck to lose two years in a row…

After disclosing several weeks ago that he is on a mission to deliver a classic album in Before I Self Destruct, 50 Cent is reverting back to what made him a household name in the first place. As such, he’s disclosed in the past day or so that this album will feature more input from Dr. Dre and Eminem, who didn’t much participate on his last two. (continue reading…)