West's third studio album, Graduation, garnered major publicity when its release date pitted West in a sales competition against rapper 50 Cent's Curtis. Upon their September 2007 releases, Graduation outsold Curtis by a large margin, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and selling 957,000 copies in its first week. Graduation once again continued the string of critical and commercial successes by West, and the album's lead single, "Stronger", garnered the rapper his third number-one hit. "Stronger", which samples French house duo Daft Punk, has been accredited to not only encouraging other hip-hop artists to incorporate house and electronica elements into their music, but also for playing a part in the revival of disco and electro-infused music in the late 2000s. Ben Detrick of XXL cited the outcome of the sales competition between 50 Cent's Curtis and West's Graduation as being responsible for altering the direction of hip-hop and paving the way for new rappers who didn't follow the hardcore-gangster mold, writing, "If there was ever a watershed moment to indicate hip-hop's changing direction, it may have come when 50 Cent competed with Kanye in 2007 to see whose album would claim superior sales." COUNT 7
QSN1 What was the name of Kanye's third album? ANS1 Graduation QSN2 Kanye released Graduation at the same time of what other famous rapper, thus drawing media comparison? ANS2 50 Cent QSN3 How many copies did Graduation sell in its first week of release?  ANS3 957,000 QSN4 What famous electronic duo did Kanye sample on his third album? ANS4 Daft Punk QSN5 What was the name of Kanye West's third CD? ANS5 Graduation QSN6 What artist was Kanye's third album release competing against? ANS6 50 Cent QSN7 What music group was in Kanye's first release off of Graduation? ANS7 Daft Punk