Elliott Wilson, the editor in chief of the hip-hop magazine XXL, says the publicity will give a boost to what is already expected to be a blockbuster album.

``It helps him obviously in terms of exposure. You can't ask for better promotion. Now he's literally making history by beefing with his own artist,'' Wilson said.

shooting people , or for that matter being shot by people, is excellent publicity. maybe bloggers ought to be getting hip.