Graduation (album) - Release and Promotion

Release and Promotion

On May 11, 2007, it was announced that the release date for Graduation was set to be September 18, 2007. Following the release of the album's lead single "Can't Tell Me Nothing", West released a free mixtape under the same name onto the internet in promotion of the album on May 27. The mixtape featured preview clips of certain songs that would later appear on Graduation and showcased various artists signed onto West's G.O.O.D. Music label as well as collaborations with other unaffiliated musicians. It also contained the debut song "Us Placers", the first song made by Child Rebel Soldier, a new supergroup that West had formed with Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell Williams.

At the end of May, Island Def Jam pushed the album's release date up to an unspecified late August date, a decision West first announced on the introductory track of his Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape. On July 19, it was changed once more and moved to September 11, 2007, the same US release date as rapper 50 Cent's Curtis. When first presented with the proposal of his label moving Graduation's release date yet again as well as the idea of a sales race between him and 50 Cent, West initially expressed his indifference towards the thought, saying, "When I heard that thing about the debate, I thought that was the stupidest thing. When my album drops and 50's album drops, you're gonna get a lot of good music at the same time." However, then Def Jam president and CEO Jay-Z welcomed the competition, feeling that it would be prosperous for hip hop and the date became permanent.

The album's release generated much publicity over a sales competition with 50 Cent's Curtis. Three months prior to the September 11 release date, West extended his gratitude towards 50 Cent for the enthusiasm and excitement that the friendly competition produced. Though confident that he would emerge victorious, West stated that he would be perfectly fine with losing to 50 Cent, saying that he'd rather, "be #2 on that day rather than come out and be #1 on a day nobody cares about." In an interview for USA Today, 50 Cent expressed his view on the idea of a sales competition, stating "It's great marketing — for Kanye West. But I sell way more records than Kanye West, and I generate way more interest than Kanye West. They think they can match us up, but they'll find out when that week goes by and the sales come back. This is no rivalry." A month later, on August 10, 50 Cent stated during an interview with SOHH that he would end his career as a solo artist if Graduation sold more copies than Curtis in the United States. However, he later retracted his statement within an MTV interview due to contract agreements with Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Incidentally, West and 50 Cent later joined each other onstage to provide a surprise performance before an audience of over 20,000 people for a show held on August 22 in Madison Square Garden during Ciara and T.I.'s Screamfest '07 tour.

On August 28, 2007, West hosted an album listening session for Graduation at New World Stages in New York City, where he explained his influences and aspirations for the album and played songs over clips from a variety of futuristic sci-fi films, including Tron, Akira, 2046 and 2001: A Space Odyssey. In a survey conducted by Billboard, results displayed that an estimated 44% of readers predicted that Graduation would sell more units over 50 Cent and Kenny Chesney. Sales projections for first week scans based on early store sales reports indicated towards the 575,000–700,000 range for Graduation, while Curtis was projected in the 500,000–600,000 range.