"In the summer of 2007, Kanye West and 50 Cent were embroiled in a high-wattage-and highly manufactured-promotional showdown. Both rappers had albums dropping on the same day in September and, to boost their respective first-week sales, were squaring off in as many venues as possible. They stood toe-to-toe, like boxers, onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards; they mean-mugged each other on the cover of Rolling Stone;"
"50 Cent played the villain, belittling his opponent and threatening to retire if he didn't sell more units, whereas West played the bashful little brother, a pink-polo-wearing whiz kid whose ambitions transcended the back-and-forth, but who still gladly participated in the pageantry. The rest, of course, is history. West's "Graduation" was a sensation, selling nearly a million copies in its first week and débuting atop the Billboard charts. 50 Cent sold around seven hundred thousand copies and came in at No. 2,"
Contemporary music consumption has become more ephemeral, making it difficult to elevate an album into a cultural event. In summer 2007, Kanye West and 50 Cent staged a highly manufactured promotional showdown to boost first-week sales, using televised appearances, magazine covers, and joint interviews. West's Graduation debuted with nearly a million first-week sales and topped the Billboard charts; 50 Cent sold around seven hundred thousand and finished No. 2, signaling the end of his chart-topping run. West's victory marked a mainstream hip-hop shift from gangsta rap toward euphoric, genre-blending sounds, while the emerging platform-driven internet began reshaping album marketing strategies.
Read at The New Yorker
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