50 Cent

Looks like 50 Cent isn't going into his retirement without a fight: The rapper, who has vowed to quit his music career if Kanye West's new album does better than his, is accusing his rival's record company of "rigging sales."

Both artists released their records the same day last week.

British sales show West leading, and similar results are expected when U.S. industry figures are released today.

As that embarrassment for the brash 50 looked ever more likely yesterday, he accused West's label, Def Jam, of some shady shenanigans.

According to the UK music magazine Uncut, 50 (real name Curtis Jackson) thinks Def Jam has doctored its sales figures.

"He's never had a fraction of the sales 50 Cent has," the embattled rapper told the mag.

"They could have only one scan and have it count four times. West's entire career hasn't sold half what I sold on my first album."

According to figures compiled by several music industry trade publications, including Billboard and Hits Magazine, West's album, "Graduation," is expected to open at No.1 on this week's chart with sales in excess of 800,000 copies.

Meanwhile, 50's "Curtis" is slated to enter at No. 2 with sales just north of 600,000.

Billboard's chart maven Geoff Mayfield thinks there's little chance West's company could have manipulated sales: "The people who built SoundScan put safeguards in place to track sales that don't look kosher."

Representatives for 50 Cent and Kanye West did not return calls or e-mails from the Daily News yesterday.

Though the artists record for different labels, 50 for Interscope and West for Def Jam, both are part of the same corporation - Universal.

Regardless of his retirement threat, 50 has already recorded another album, which is slated for release early next year. It's called "Before I Self Destruct."