Before Kanye West and 50 Cent can beat one another on the music charts, the rap artists will have to top The Black Lips.

“We’re going to trump both of them and make them both retire,” said Jared Swilley, the Atlanta garage-rock band’s bassist.

“50 Cent doesn’t even have real bullet wounds. Those are Botox scars,” Swilley joked. “He’s from Connecticut.”

Although both famous rap artists are unaware of this scrappy and inventive third contestant in their war of hit singles, the two share something in common with The Black Lips – new albums, all released Tuesday.

The release of the Lips’ new album, “Good Bad, Not Evil” (Vice Records), coincides with the band’s national tour, kicking off tonight at the 40 Watt Club.

The band’s fifth release follows its live album “Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo,” which was recorded in Tijuana, Mexico and captures the chaos and energy of a Lips performance.

The Black Lips were the hardest working band at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, this year, the New York Times reported.

“We’re the hardest-working band in America now that James Brown has passed,” Swilley said. “We had to do 12 shows in three days [at South by Southwest]. By the end I felt like I was dead, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

The band has been together for seven years, beginning when Swilley and guitarist Cole Alexander were kicked out of high school in Dunwoody.

“We started touring immediately,” Swilley said.

They have been on the road ever since. The group just returned Sunday from touring in Italy and England.

“I’m kinda Europe-d out right now,” Swilley said. “The first time we went over there we were doing better over there than here, but now it’s the opposite.”

With all their travel in mind, Swilley said he has found rock ‘n’ roll to be a universal constant.

“People are the same all over,” Swilley said. “Everywhere we’ve played, kids who listen to rock ‘n’ roll are kids who listen to rock ‘n’ roll.”

Swilley said the group has even broader global ambitions.

“We’re doing Australia in September,” he said. “I really want to do South America. Cole’s mom lives in Uganda, and he goes a couple times a year to see her. He knows a couple of bars we can play.”

As if globe-trotting weren’t enough, Swilley said The Black Lips hopes to enter the realm of film.

“We want to go to Nigeria because their film industry is second to [India's] Bollywood and Hollywood. They call it Nollywood. They shoot three full-length motion pictures in one day and it costs about two grand. We want to go over there and do that,” Swilley said.

Before the band dives into filmmaking, it could stand to make sure its show tonight goes smoothly.

Years ago, The Black Lips were banned from the 40 Watt but have been allowed back since.

Creative Loafing, the Atlanta-based weekly alternative paper, reported drummer Joe Bradley tried to set his drums on fire.

“We were just kids being kids,” Swilley said. “Every place we’ve been banned from invited us back. It’s hard to not like us if you knew us face-to-face.”