I haven’t been keeping up closely with the sillier aspects of 50 Cent’s recent marketing efforts from his enthusiasm for a debate with Kanye West to his claim that he would quit rapping if Kanye sells more but I thought all that was off in any real sense.  Maybe 50 Cent’s still buying in but I thought he’d finessed his way out of that.

I guess I’m just bored with the high school antics like "let’s have a debate" and "I’ll quit if you win" but Glenn Gamboa thinks that these latest escapades show 50 Cent is a great marketer and he might be right.  We’ll see on the 11th and see even more in the weeks that follow.

Glenn Gamboa is very impressed with "The Bet":
Just so no one’s confused, 50 Cent will not lose that bet promising to retire as a solo artist if his new album "Curtis" (Interscope) didn’t sell more copies than Kanye West’s new album "Graduation" (Roc-a-Fella) in its first week.

He wouldn’t have made it if he wasn’t sure…He adds that all the hype surrounding The Bet is totally media-generated and he would know. After all, that’s the way he planned it.

The Bet is what got him and Kanye on the cover of the next Rolling Stone. It’s what got him mentioned on TV, got the Sept. 11 release date for both albums ingrained in the heads of people only passingly interested in music, spawned endless chatter in the hip-hop blogosphere and in countless newspapers, including this one.

The Bet only goes to show that 50 Cent, like Madonna and pre-crazy Britney Spears, is a master at manipulating the media.

I’m just not feeling it and I think it’s the whole setup of Kanye West Vs. 50 Cent that’s driving the media coverage and The Bet was only one example.  But I’ll keep looking for differing responses so I’m not in total dereliction of duty since I wasn’t that moved by "Hip Hop Is Dead" either and you see how well that’s done for Nas.