In boxing they say the Champ should never take a re-match he’s not confident he can win.  Well if Kanye West was a boxer folks would be questioning his heart right now (not that they aren’t already.)  In a post on his blog Wednesday Kanye announced to relatively little fan fair that he’s pushed the release date of his mildly anticipated album “808s & Heartbreak” from December 16 to November “something.”

Now while the move will avoid another 4th Quarter head-to-head sales battle with his arch rival 50 Cent’s  “Before I Self Destruct” it was clearly not billed the same way as their previous “Graduation“/ “Curtis” match up and choice in this year’s original release dates was “said” to be nothing more than a coincidence.

But the move by Kanye begins to smell of fear, especially with the absence of an official date.  Kanye’s excuse?  “I finished the album and I felt like..,” he wrote. “I want yall to hear it as soon as possible.”

Hmmmm… a couple of weeks ago we didn’t even know the project existed and may not have but now he can’t wait to get it on your iPod.  At a time when the economy is in the toilet, not only would the added attention from the showdown, albeit tempered from last year, boost sales but the December Holiday rush could hurt either.  Then again I’m not copping either album so who am I to talk.