In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, HOV had this to say about West’s victory…. “It makes me proud as someone who’s watched his growth from the beginning, when he came in as a hungry producer, to now he’s a rock star,” Hov said about Kanye. “I’m happy for him on that level. And I’m excited for creativity as well, because I think that’s a win for that as well. You know, people mimic success. And in order to mimic that success, you have to put in a lot of work. You have to really care about the music.” “It’s pretty much how much [Kanye] cares about it,” Hov emphasized.

“It’s not done for any other reason but to be the best music out at that specific time. You know, at times you could hear other people’s music, and you hear, ‘Okay, that’s your girl single, that’s the thug single’. It’s none of that. Every single song he makes, he makes because he thinks it’s the best record at that specific time. He may not think it next week, but that week, he thought that was the best record that he could make.” Graduation features a track titled “Big Brother,” which Kanye dedicated to Jay-Z. Hov revealed that it’s one of his favorite songs on the album.
“‘Big Brother’ is the best song he’s written since ‘Jesus Walks,’ as far as structure, emotion, everything,” Jay explained. “I think it’s a fair portrayal from a little brother’s perspective. You know, you’ve got your big brother and you want to go out with him, he’s like, ‘Nah, get back in the house!’ Things like that, until you come of age.”

50 did not address his retirement vow or the foul play accusations in his conciliatory statement…but he had some POSITIVE words to say about West’s victory.”I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years,” 50 told the Associated Press. “Collectively, we have sold hundreds of thousands of units in our debut week. This marks a great moment for hip-hop music, one that will go down in history.”