Kanye West and 50 Cent Go Behind the Feud: Watch the Rolling Stone Cover Stars Break Down the Showdown

Click here to watch the two MCs break down their record-release showdown at the Rolling Stone cover shoot

"I want the number-one spot," Kanye West says at the rapper-producer's cover shoot with 50 Cent. "That's why I go to the studio ... this is my job, this is my life, this is my passion." "This is a competitive age of hip-hop. You gotta compete," adds 50 Cent. There's been a lot of talk about their two new albums, which will face off at record stores September 11th — now watch the pair address their potentially record-breaking chart showdown and what makes them both yearn to be the best. West talks about the days when Biggie, Wu-Tang, Jay-Z and Nas released albums at the same time, and Fifty admits he came to Kanye for beats when he started thinking about Curtis. Check out the pair's candid analysis of their album-release feud right here.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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