Kanye West, the cocky, self-labeled “Louis Vuitton Don” is on top of the world right now. 

Everyone was begging him to be on the cover of their publication, for a second on their radio show and an appearance in their town before he dropped his second album “Late Registration.”

He landed an amazing deal with Pepsi and graced the cover of Time magazine in late August.  His videos and songs topped the charts and people have become fascinated with him. So, it’s no wonder that 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, seems to be taking shots at the musical genius.

In a September interview with MTV, 50 Cent said, “I feel like Kanye West is successful because of me,” according to the Associated Press.  50 believes that people were looking for something less confrontational, after his success with the shoot-em’ up bang bang hype.

"After 50 Cent, (hip-hop fans) was looking for something non-confrontational, and they went after first thing that came along. That was Kanye West, and his record took off," said 50 in the article. 

When I read that I immediately thought how seemingly threatened and jealous the “Get Rich or Die Trying” spokesman made himself look.  I can’t believe 50 thinks he is the catalyst for Kanye West’s success.  I know Kanye is notorious for his ego, but 50 sure is rearing his uglier side these days.

Amid the controversy surrounding Kanye’s “Bush doesn’t care about black people” comment, 50 took it upon himself to publicly disagree with West. He told ContactMusic.com that  the comment was off base and that people responded to Katrina the best way they could. Is 50 suddenly supportive of George W. Bush and his presidential performance or making a point to oppose Kanye? I feel it’s the latter. 

"What Kanye West was saying, I don’t know where that came from," 50 said in the article.  I can clearly see where 50 is coming from these days.  He seems to be taking shots at Kanye, who is glimmering in the limelight as we speak.

Personally, I think 50 can see the dwindling appeal of his infamous getting shot 8 times tales and his guns, muscles and bulletproof vests.  Is it wrong that people might be getting spent on his music and are looking to a more creative side of music?

His recent beef with his once G-Unit label mate The Game and everyone from Fat Joe to Ja Rule just shows that 50 is trying to keep his name out there and clearly doesn’t handle criticism well.  Personally, I think beef was the promotion move circa 99′ and it

worked well for everyone from Nas and Jay-Z to Lil Kim and Foxy. 

However, hip-hop is loosing its gritty lyrically creative luster and turning into something foreign. Gimmicks replace real talent and 50 capitalized on that. When he started cursing at the BET awards about Fat Joe’s comment he looked immature and out of place.

What hip-hop needs more of is his congratulation and acknowledgement.  Though rappers are in a competing market and they often take cheap shots in songs, let the talent speak for itself.  Instead of hating on Kanye West and other blossoming artists, 50 should

head back into the studio and step his game up.