New chart battle for West and 50 Cent

The rap chart war between 50 Cent and Kanye West is on again - the pair's new albums will be released a week apart in December.

West won the last battle when his album 'Graduation' outsold his chart rival's 'Curtis' last year, after both records were released on the same day.

Now the rappers are set for a pre-Christmas showdown, with Interscope record bosses confirming 50 Cent's new album, 'Before I Self Destruct', will hit stores on December 9 - a week before the release of West's '808's & Heartbreak'.

West's fighting talk has already started - in a blog posting on Friday, the rapper wrote: "I guarantee this (808's & Heartbreak) will be 50's favourite album of mine. This will be gangster's album of the year."