50 Cent ends ‘feud’ with the Game

NEW YORK — Rapper 50 Cent, who held a press conference Wednesday to say that he has settled his high-profile “differences” with partner the Game, entered the national sales chart at No. 1 the same day, after his new album, “Massacre,” sold a record 1.14 million copies in just four days.

One reason 50 Cent is so hot is that the 28-year-old New Yorker has been all over pop radio in recent weeks, thanks to such hits as “Disco Inferno,” “Candy Shop” (with Olivia) and “How We Do” (with the Game).

But also his “feud” with Compton rapper the Game attracted lots of attention in the hip-hop world -- a disagreement so timely and gossip-inducing that it surely invited speculation that it was all staged. Rappers have often been accused of using controversy to boost album sales.

The intrigue began last month with reports that 50 Cent, whose own “thug life” history has played a strong role in him getting media attention in recent years, had booted hot 24-year-old newcomer the Game out of 50 Cent’s group G-Unit.

On Feb. 28, members of 50 Cent’s entourage began fighting with the Game’s entourage outside a New York radio station, newspapers reported. A member of the Game’s group was wounded when shooting erupted.

At a press conference in Harlem on the eighth anniversary of the murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G., however, the rappers said everything was cool.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, took the podium first at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, saying his goal is to “put negativity behind us” and declared, “overall, I feel that this is an opportunity for people to see us make peace.”

The Game, whose real name is Jayceon Taylor, then took the microphone and said, “I just want to apologize -- on behalf of myself and 50 Cent -- to the fans, the radio stations, our labels. And I’m almost ashamed to have participated in things that went on the last couple of weeks.”

During the conference, the two rappers seemed somewhat ill at ease sharing a stage. They avoided eye contact until the final moments of the press conference, during which they announced contributions to the Harlem Boys Choir Academy and the Compton Unified School District music program.

Billboard magazine reported that the “Massacre” total was the biggest ever for a shortened week opening and the sixth largest first-week figure since Nielsen SoundScan began monitoring sales charts in 1991.

The biggest previous short-week total was 50 Cent’s last album, 2003’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” which sold 872,000 copies in four days. The largest full week total is the 2.42 million registered by ‘N Sync’s “No Strings Attached” in 2000.

Albums are normally released on Tuesdays, which mean the first week sales period is six days. “Massacre” had been scheduled for release Tuesday, but Interscope Records released the CD last Thursday to combat online piracy and bootlegging. The label rush-released earlier albums by Eminem and 50 Cent for the same reason.

Three other artists entered the Top 10 on Wednesday: Jennifer Lopez at No. 2 (sales of 261,000) Jack Johnson at No. 3 (229,000) and the Mars Volta at No. 4, (123,000).

*

Baz Dreisinger reported from New York. Robert Hilburn reported from Los Angeles.