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Posted By Marc Lynch
Monday, July 13, 2009 - 2:22 PM
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Late last week, the Los Angeles rapper the Game launched a blistering attack against
the legendary New York blogger rapper :>) Jay-Z. At a series of European shows,
the Game led crowds in cheers of "F*** Jay-Z" and "Old Ass N*****", and
at one point went into an obsenity laced (but rather wickedly funny)
rampage against Jay-Z's fiance' (wife?) Beyonce. Over the weekend, he released
"I'm So Wavy [Too Hardcore to be a Jay-Z]"
an inconsistent but catchy attack on Jay-Z (note: all links are to
songs which are almost certainly NSFW and which you might find
offensive; you've been warned). When I started feeding this stuff to my friend Spencer Ackerman
last week, his first take was that "the countdown to the end of the
Game's career starts today." Mine, me being a professor of
international relations, was to start thinking about how this could be
turned into a story about the nature of hegemony and the debate over
the exercise of American power. (That, and how I could waste time that
I should be spending on real work.)
See, Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) is the closest thing to a hegemon which the rap world has known for a long time. He's #1 on the Forbes list of the top earning rappers. He has an unimpeachable reputation, both artistic and commercial, and has produced some of the all-time best (and best-selling) hip hop albums including standouts Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and the Black Album. He spent several successful years as the CEO of Def Jam Records before buying out his contract a few months ago to release his new album on his own label. And he's got Beyonce. Nobody, but nobody, in the hip hop world has his combination of hard power and soft power. If there be hegemony, then this is it. Heck, when he tried to retire after the Black Album, he found himself dragged back into the game (shades of America's inward turn during the Clinton years?).
But the limits on his ability to use this power recalls the debates about U.S. primacy. Should he use this power to its fullest extent, as neo-conservatives would advise, imposing his will to reshape the world, forcing others to adapt to his values and leadership? Or should he fear a backlash against the unilateral use of power, as realists such as my colleague Steve Walt or liberals such as John Ikenberry would warn, and instead exercise self-restraint?
The changes in Jay-Z's approach over the years suggest that he recognizes the realist and liberal logic... but is sorely tempted by the neo-conservative impulse. Back when he was younger, Jay-Z was a merciless, ruthless killer in the "beefs" which define hip hop politics. He never would have gotten to the top without that. But since then he's changed his style and has instead largely chosen to stand above the fray. As Jay-Z got older and more powerful, the marginal benefits of such battles declined and the costs increased even as the number of would-be rivals escalated. Just as the U.S. attracts resentment and rhetorical anti-Americanism simply by virtue of being on top, so did Jay-Z attract a disproportionate number of attackers. "I got beefs with like a hundred children" he bragged/complained on one track.
His ability to respond actually declined as his power and enemies list grew, though. As a young 50 Cent spat at him (twisting one of Jay's own famous lines), "if I shoot you I'm famous, if you shoot me you're brainless." He's generally avoided getting embroiled in beefs since reaching the top, only occasionally and briefly hitting back at provocations from rising contenders like 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and others. Responding to every challenge does not become a hegemon. Indeed, it would be counter-productive and exhausting, and would likely trigger even greater resentment among other rising rappers. Better as hegemon to rise above the fray and accept the sniping of the less powerful while reaping the rewards of a status quo which he dominates and profits from excessively. And that's what happened: his wealth, status, and structural power rose inexorably despite the potshots and abuse and unmet challenges -- indeed, the only real hit he's taken was self-inflicted, the critical shrug given to the middling "Kingdom Come" album.
When he learnt this lesson might also offer insights into how great powers in IR learn. He changed his style after his most famous beef, and the only one which he lost: his battle with the Queensbridge legend Nas. The reasons for his loss are instructive. Jay-Z launched what Nas later described as a "sneak attack" at a time when the latter's mother was ailing. Why? Because Nas was at the time recognized widely as the king of NYC rap, and Jay-Z (the rising power) saw that only by knocking off the king could he seize the crown for himself. A few brief skirmishes -- a Jay-Z freestyle mentioning Nas, the first "Stillmatic" response from Nas -- then led to the full blast of "The Takeover". Rather than fold, Nas hit back with the instant legend "Ether". It went back and forth, and then, crucially, Jay-Z misplayed his hand. In "Super Ugly", about 2 minutes in to a pretty good track, he escalated to a crude personal revelation about his sexual exploits with the mother of Nas's child -- prompting Jay's mother to call in to a radio station to complain and forcing Jay to apologize. The lesson: just because you've got an ace card doesn't mean you should play it... better to keep it in reserve, for fear of triggering a backlash.
But what happened next is even more interesting. The beef actually helped both: it lit a fire under Nas, who renewed his career, while Jay-Z continued to ascend to his current position (with the Black Album probably still standing as the pinnacle). Jay-Z acknowledged his defeat (on Blueprint 2) and learned lessons from it (while taking a few last shots, and claiming credit for reviging his rival's career ("I gave you life when n**** had forgotten you MC'd"). Nas opted to settle the beef, reconcile, and sign on with Def Jam Records -- where he became one of Jay's leading and most valuable artists. In a world of unipolarity, both win through co-optation, reconciliation between enemies, and the demonstration that the gains of cooperation outweigh the gains of resistance.
Which brings us back to the Game. The Game (Jayceon Taylor) is a wildly erratic, brilliantly talented L.A. gangsta rapper, a protege of Dr. Dre who started off with 50 Cent and G-Unit. After an ugly break with them, he unleashed a barrage of brutal attacks on G-Unit and 50 Cent culminating in an epic 300 bars freestyle. The Game clearly won the battle on its merits, but 50 Cent's career continued relatively unharmed (he was #1 on last year's Forbes list before being displaced by Jay-Z this year, though his reputation as a rapper has declined significantly after some mediocre albums and a humiliating defeat in a public showdown over album sales at the hands of Kanye West, of all people). Meanwhile, the Game established himself as a solid solo act. In that war between a rising power and a upper-echelon middle power, both ultimately benefited.
Jay-Z is a bit different, given his hegemonic status and the absence of a prior relationship. The Game has always had a particularly odd, passive-aggressive relationship with Jay-Z. His first hit "Westside Story" contained a line about not driving Maybachs (Jay's signature car) which everyone took as a diss. The Game panicked, and spliced into the title track of his debut album "The Documentary" a radio interview explaining that he had meant it as a shot against Ja Rule (everyone's favorite hip hop punching bag) and that he "never takes shots at legends, that's just not something I do." Yeah, right. Over the next few years, he would routinely go out of his way to say that he was not dissing Jay-Z even when it sounded like he was ("before you call this a diss, and you make Hova pissed, why would I do that, when I'm just the new cat, that was taught if a n****take shots to shoot back, defending his yard, yeah standing his ground, I'm sayin if you gonna retire then hand me the crown.") Think of him as a rising middle power (#13 on the Forbes list, down there with Young Jeezy, he helpfully explains on I'm So Wavy) eyeing the king, ambitious and a bit resentful, and looking for an opening.
So what prompted him to finally cross the line and attack Jay-Z? There doesn't seem to be anything in the public record to speak of -- the proximate cause was a throwaway line in a Jay-Z freestyle which didn't even attack him ("I ain't talkin' about THE GAME"). His ego has always been there, and the Jay-Z obsession (in "360" earlier this year, he memorably rapped over Jay's Million and One beat "I'm the king and you better respect it, all I need is Beyonce and a Roc-a-Fella necklace"). Maybe he really just wants to test himself (he says on his Twitter feed "I ALWAYS FELT I WAS GOOD ENUFF 2 GO BAR 4 BAR @ JAY IN A "LYRICAL BEEF"), the way rising powers do. Or maybe he just is hoping for publicity... wouldn't be the first. But none of that explains the timing, even if it might account for the attack itself. So let's go with the IR analogies for a moment.
The Game's own account suggests that he saw vulnerability in Jay-Z's over-extension. First, supposedly Jay-Z got Chris Brown blackballed from the BET Video Awards by threatening to stay home if he performed. Second, D.O.A., the first single off of Blueprint 3, attacked a whole generation of rappers using the Autotune program to sing (including such great powers as Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, and Kanye West as well as the hapless T-Pain). Taken together, that might add up to a growing resentment which could be exploited. Maybe he calculated that now was the moment to strike, and that the rest of the middle powers will ally with him to topple the tyrant.
But still, the timing is odd for a "power transition" narrative, given that Jay-Z is set to release his new Blueprint 3 album in September and has done a whole series of verses with other leading rappers in recent years (including Nas, Lil Wayne, and T.I.) which is to hip hop as "alliances" are to International Relations. He may be old, but hardly looks like a declining power.... although perhaps Game simply detects weakness in Jay-Z's age. After all, he tweeted at one point that he "really don't hate jay's old music, but this new sh!t is convalescent home elevator music." He clearly understands the extent of Jay-Z's structural power, daring a long list of influential DJs to play I'm So Wavy.
So what does Jay-Z do? If he hits back hard in public, the Game will gain in publicity even if he loses... the classic problem of a great power confronted by a smaller annoying challenger. And given his demonstrated skills and talent, and his track record against G-Unit, the Game may well score some points. At the least, it would bring Jay-Z down to his level -- bogging him down in an asymmetric war negating the hegemon's primary advantages. If Jay-Z tries to use his structural power to kill Game's career (block him from releasing albums or booking tour dates or appearing at the Grammy Awards), it could be seen as a wimpy and pathetic operation -- especially since it would be exposed on Twitter and the hip hop blogs.
The Realist advice? His best hope is probably to sit back and let the Game self-destruct, something of which he's quite capable (he's already backing away from the hit on Beyonce) -- while working behind the scenes to maintain his own alliance structure and to prevent any defections over to the Game's camp. And it seems that thus far, that's exactly what he's doing. We'll see if that's a winning strategy.... or if he's just biding his time getting ready for a counter-attack. Either way, I've succeeded in wasting a lot of time so... mission accomplished!
(IMAGE taken from http://www.upscaleswagger.com, no idea where they got it.)
** A full roundup of commentary and discussion of this post -- really, one of the most entertaining blog-go-rounds I can recall in quite some time --- can be found at this follow-up post here **
This was among the most entertaining blog posts I have read in months. I just want to point out, however, that these issues were discussed by Jay on his Kingdom Come Album (the quality of which you and I disagree about quite strongly):
"Its hard to do when you’ve got nothing to prove
Everybody know you better, you in a lose/lose
Cause even when you win, ultimately you lose
Real niggas like, 'Why Hov talking to Dude?'"
Dig a Hole
Actually, the entire song discusses these issues:
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Dig-A-Hole-lyrics-Jay-Z/29E2AB679E7DDF0948257227000E9932
I agree totally, FreddyBak. I must also mention, however, that it seems to me that Hov is a conscious instigator of the current situation. D.O.A contains many thinly veiled shots at the new breed of commercially successful rappers, even calling out some names--"you rappers singing too much, get back to rap you t-paining too much". The Game beef was actually started by a verse Jay-Z spit while in the U.K last month-- it is apparently the introduction to the blue-print 3
Gread read. It is interesting to think about the tactics used by rappers, empires, would-be alpha males, etc., the moves they make to gain power but not overuse it, and which of their behaviors are conscious and which are sub-conscious, and for the former, the strategies used in order to advance up the power latter.
Also, just wanted to point out that "360 bars" did not come out earlier this year, but actually in early 2006. Shows just how long The Game has been taking shots at Jay, and just how long Jay has been ignoring it.
Must agree with Freedybank! Not a waste of time! I couldhave never come up with such a great analogie. Please do expand!!
this is a great piece, i would love to see you look at other hip-hop beefs through an IR lens. it could be an incredible book idea actually. biggie-tupac, boogie down-juice crew, ll-cannibus, eminem-benzino/the source, easy e-dr. dre, 50-rick ross,
saw this yesterday after i first read this post, it's a handy downloadable audio history of jay z vs. the game with choice quotables:
http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2009/07/the-audio-history-of-the-game-vs-jay-z
i personally think jay z and the game are both overrated, but jay z's empire is on the decline and to transcend the sick old man status he's going to have to come back with something hard this time.
"Nobody, but nobody, in the hip hop world has his combination of hard power"
Actually as far as the first is concerned he's stayed above the fray and that's one of the reasons for his success. He doesn't play east coast vs west coast or Blood vs. Crip, for which you could replace east vs west or Christianity vs Islam. He's after the cash. And his feud with Nas was considered by many on the street to be marketing for both.
Once again you're trying to or pretending to be down with the street in Cairo [the Muslim Brotherhood] and NY but in the end you're a factotum of the USG. But Jay Z isn't a country and he doesn't work for one. He's a one man corporation.
46 years of life and 25 years in the outer boroughs of NY and other parts of the world have taught me a lot but one thing stands out in the context of discussions of foreign policy: American liberal intellectuals are now less internationalist than urban street kids and big city party people. The second was always more or less true, now it's true for both. 17 year olds in my neighborhood are more casually reflexively internationalist than the US intellectual elite. And I'm including intellectuals in every field not just those related to foreign policy. The insularity of American intellectual life is just bizarre.
Immigration is the foundation of the new internationalism, and the new capitalism. But you're still Alden Pyle lite, to Andrew Exum's Abu Flashman, reliving the English 19th century or the early 20th in the US. You're way behind the curve. You, Josh Marshall, Yglesias, Ackerman et al. are all in one way or another trying to be down with the colored folk without -lets be honest here- sharing their interests. But you try, that's the odd thing. You want to be liked.
But Israel is Marshall's "necessary crime," and you lecture on Arab democracy with no mention Keith Dayton or the new US trained death squads in Iraq. Everything begins for you with the rationalism of your own and your country's superiority. You'd represent its interests better, even at their worst, if you were a bit more honest with yourself.
"I know a few dudes doin life bids in jail..."
"And they way smarter then the white kids in Yale"
I laughed when I first heard those lines in 2002, because I grew up knowing it was true. I grew up as the white kid in a largely working class black neighborhood, and I wasn't working class. But I didn't pretend to be other than what I was and by and large it was fine. My bother was a little more like Eminen if Eminem spent his days playing street-corner chess. And he still does (in DC). But I learned to despise liars, even those who lie first off to themselves.
You're wearing the empire's new clothes, and to most of the world you look like Berlusconi.
This is an intriguing article--the likes of which we should see more of, on FP, Slate, The Root, and Big Money. XX Factor has the pop-culture/serious politics gambit well in hand.
I would like to redirect, just a touch, if it is not untoward.
The hip-hop community's cycles of beef ("The Endless Waltz, these three beats of War, Peace, and Revolution continuing on forever...") do make a ready, entertaining, and wieldy allegory for geopolitics, with one major change: hip hop, it must be said, is all about soft power.
Hard power in this realm, simply put, is murder--and you will note that in recent beefs, from the perhaps, most contentious beef in the history of the genre, between Benzino/JaRule and Eminem, to the above-cited, and perhaps historically the most artistically interesting beef, between Jay-Z and Nas, the parties involved went out of their way to de-escalate the situations. Yes, even 50 Cent and The Game. Because everyone remembers, not only what happened to Pac and Biggie, but what happened to Busta Rhymes' bodyguard, and Big L (murdered by someone beefing with his brother). You don't even have to be the one people are beefing with to get murdered.
Following this principle back to the topically germaine, I'd add that the amount of soft power accumulated by Jay-Z is nearly insurmountable. One is reminded of Canibus and LL Cool J beef--no matter the skillset differential (and no one would contend that the elder statesman Mr. Smith did anything but have his *ss handed to him in that fiasco)--the more *respected* rapper wins out, not the most talented. Canibus was some how intrinsically incapable--despite his genius--of defeating L.L. Cool J. This is also one of the reasons why the most memorable rap beefs have not been the most demonstrative (Ja Rule's Decade-of-Beef, for instance) but rather the most evenly matched (Game v. 50 Cent; Jay-Z v. Nas; Boogie Down Productions v. Marley Marl and the Juice Crew).
But, it's flat-out hard to imagine anyone with more soft power in rap music than Jay-Z. In fact, I would say, in today's hip-hop landscape, he is clearly without peer. There is...a lively court life, to be certain, but only one king. I cannot imagine that it matters the slightest what The Game has said or might ever say about Jay-Z. It matters what Jay does in response, but it doesn't really matter one way or the other what The Game says.
I could get tangled up in *pages* of what I'd consider substantiation of my contentions as to Jay-Z's power, but it ultimately wouldn't be much more persuasive. You can see it, or you can't. The man occupies a unique position by virtue of being an ex-hustler who can satisfy the street-level need for a recognizance of the primacy of ghetto culture, of course. But, far more difficult at the same time his lyrical complexity and the tragicomic retrospective position he assumes as a musician adds philosophical weight and distance between his presently legitimate/rich self and his formerly illegal/relatively poor self. This satisfies the backpackers, suburban kids, and the thugs at the same time. "For real, He moved weight!--Omigod, there he is with Gweneth and Chris!) Plus 20 extra points for Beyonce and the gig at Def Jam.Do not be misled. Neither Kanye, nor Nas, nor Dre, nor 50, nor Em, nor KRS-1, nor Rakim, nor Cube, nor the cross-universe alliance of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five AND the Avengers West Coast (plus Wolverine) could pull this off. This man is the equivalent of LL Cool J selling 4 million records, marrying Madonna, purchasing the Glenlivet's Highland distillery, collaborating on one song with Madonna, another with Eddie Vedder, and still another with former archnemesis Kool Moe Dee--only to dedicate the album to departed friend John Lennon (whose last great original collaboration appeared on LL's debut album) then serve as president of Def Jam. By 1993.
His reign will be precisely as long as the living memory of his position remains, and I suspect long before it's even a remote possibility, he will gracefully bow out. If only we could have depended on Ice Cube in this regard. There will be no usurping or forced abdication.
All that said... read as an embodiment of America, the S-Dot doesn't quite transfer properly. It is somehow a comparison which diminishes both entities. Jay-Z's power in hip-hop is antithetical to American power abroad. Jay-Z overcame an early association with an artist who lacked impact and durability (Jaz) to align himself with the Last Emperor (Biggie: see "Brooklyn's Finest") sidestepping the entire World War of Hip Hop (East v. West) to slowly accumulate every trapping of supremacy on the world hip hop stage, from platinum plaques, to an insanely large posse, with lieutenants of varying capacities (Memphis Bleek, Freeway, B. Sigel, Peedie Crack, and even Kanye), to a faux retirement party that hundreds of thousands of people bought on DVD.
If perhaps Switzerland had once been a British colony which rebuilt itself after the World War II as the Japan-like embodiment of a modern technocracy...then maybe Jay-Z could be thought of as that nation-state. And if the U.S. were a rapper, I'm sad to say...we'd probably be 50 Cent. Clumsy commercialism passed off as art, unmerited bellicosity, unmatched market penetration, and the diminishment of formerly venerated (and historically better pedigreed) entities, with a commercially viable pile of sex-sex-sex on the side.
We WISH this country was like Jay-Z....
P.S, Shoutouts to Brose for a cogent point--many ways that Jay could approach The Game now could function mostly as encouragement to other would-be kingslayers. It's been a while. Hope all is well. Give my best to the missus.
Did I really just read a tome on "beef?"
You presented well although I wish you'd just point out that this kind of stuff is based in books like "Art of War" and "The Prince." As I understand it, these are among the few books that otherwise hardcore types of guys like to read...or at least pretend like they have.
The sum of your post/tome is much along the lines of FreddyBak's quote: "Why Hov talking to Dude?" A quote that I will now co-opt.
Lastly, and this because I'm only a mainstream/sideline hip hop listener anyway but what the blazes is all the "beef" about anyway? You do your music and I'll do mine over here. There's enough ears for everyone.
Relax a bit on the beef (and beef promotion). Good post though.
As much as want to like this post, I simply can't because there's just too many factual errors, mainly dealing with your timeline.
1) Nas was not the king of New York when Jay dissed him on Blueprint: Jay was right to later say "I gave you life when people forgot you MC'd" because Nas had totally fallen off after 1999's Nastradamus. But when Nas released "Ether" late 2001 he effectively killed the king, then he was considered the king of NY once again (He even rapped on Ether "The king is back, where my crown at").
2) On Takeover, Jay also dissed Mobb Deep. Who were by no means ever considered the kings of New York, but were a solid act that threw a few shots at Jay. But Jay dissed them too.
3) Jay didn't learn to avoid beefs. He took a subliminal shot at 50 on his fourth album, Vol. 3 Life and Times of S. Carter ("I'm about a buck, what the fucks a 50 Cent?) but then went for all out war on Blueprint, his sixth album.
In fact, it's more than likely that the main reason Jay waited till 2001 to diss Nas, someone he long held grievances against, is the same reason Game is going after Jay now: He sensed that the man was past his prime, and would a worthy but weakened foe.
4) Jay kept beefing after Blueprint. And maybe you missed it but on Kingdom Come, "Dig A Hole" is a diss track aimed at Dipset. While he doesn't name names, lines like "Only time you went plat, my chain was on your neck" are a dead giveaway. He even takes shots at R Kelly on that album. And Jay continues to beef with pathetic acts like Ron Brownz and has taken subliminal shots at people like TI, Cassidy, and Dame in the past.
If you really wanted to take a look at Foreign Relations in the rap game, then I suggest you take a closer look at Biggie's "Life After Death" which contains subliminal shots at Suge Knight, Raekwon, and Nas. Also, listen to Nas' "Last Real Nigga Alive" to hear him break down all types of rap tensions in the mid 90s, including the one between him and Jay.
Just to pile on here, Jay's beef with Nas had little to do with the KONY crown. Nas was already thought of as a sellout by a lot of his hardcore fans by the time Jay went after him due to his switchup to glossier, shiny suit rap that started initially on It Was Written with its poppy Trackmasters production and culminated with his flop LP Nastradamus. People weren't checking for Nas. And Jay had already tried to position himself as KONY on Vol. 1, likely hoping to take Biggies place when it was all said and done. Jay attacked Nas for the simple reason that Nas didn't acknowledge Jay. Jay was trying to get on several tracks with Nas but Nas pretty much blew him off (Then there's the incident between the two in LA).
And Jay didn't learn to NOT beef, Dig A Hole was a perfect example of that and it was aimed at people you could hardly say were poised to harm Jay's career in any way.
I think I'd rather just watch The Wire. Hip-hop feuds aren't as complex as international politics. It usually just involves some guy saying he's better than someone else in various ways, then eventually making more money or shooting/getting shot.
I can't believe someone else is interested in hip hop and foreign policy, this was a great article, and extremely accurate if I may say in terms of the hip hop world and artists. Very creative and interesting article, it goes to show that having power is not enough to win.
"I hear it all the time — ‘Yo, he should let the young guys, the new generation of guys come in.’ But you don’t become the front-runner in music because someone lets you. You have to claim your shoes...
If you grow up listening to hip-hop, you love hip-hop and that’s the end of it. But if you’re a 30-year-old rapper still trying to make music like you’re 15, then you’re making it narrow. At my age, I can’t relate to a 15-year-old. I deal with mature and relevant topics for my age group — it has to all be based on true emotions. The more diversity and the more mature we make hip-hop, the bigger the net you cast."
Full Interview at Reuters: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE56I2GQ20090719
but the point should be: Jay-Z is way above the Game's level, and should at all costs avoid confronting him. Unlike 50 cent vs. Game, Jay Z has nothing to gain from getting into a one on one battle, and most hip hop fans know why the game is provoking him, money.
Second, this, along with the FP movie recommendations, prove pop culture has a place in the FP debate, if for no other reason than it easily explains the different schools of FP thought.
Eric C, www.onviolence.com
As a passionate Sean Carter (Jay-z) fan, I couldn’t help but create an account and include myself on this extraordinary comparison. I first heard about this on NPR today while driving in my car.
While the motives for the Game attacking Jay are clearly visible and nothing new, I am taken back by the lack of respect shown to the undisputed King, Hov. From a foreign policy perspective, when a smaller inferior country challenges a larger more powerful country, history doesn’t bode well for the challenger. For this and many other reasons the comparison is somewhat tenuous, but I get the reason Mark chose to do it.
In many ways Game maneuvers himself as a fan who happened to break onto the rap scene. His actions and even lyrics are erratic and don’t seem to come with any form of calculation or premeditation. Jay-z on the other hand is what Henry Kissinger would call a chess player and that is a high compliment. Jay has copious amounts of everything game lacks: class, merit, prestige, credibility, and history in the game. Jay exploded on the scene in 96 while game emerged in 2003 or 4 I believe.
As the supreme leader of modern rap, jay-z has had his share of worthless challengers. Jim Jones was just happy to have Jay respond. Cam’ron was comical at best, but never taken seriously. Nas was his most worthy adversary and a “beef” that benefited them both. And if I had to prognosticate on the outcome of Game’s attempt at boosting his sales/credibility and ranking in the rap world, I would imagine he is going to fall short and loose respect among true hip hop heads of our time. I don’t think Jay will directly respond.
The loss of respect is due in large part to people like The Game not paying homage to the countless doors Jay-z has kicked down and the class and prestige he has brought to an otherwise crass and pretty vulgar genre (don’t get me wrong I love hip hop, but there is a lot of garbage out there). For you movie buffs, Game is equivalent to a Benny Blanco (John Leguizamo). A young up and comer who thinks he has what the big boss, Carlito (Al Pacino), has and aspires to follow in his foot steps. Just like Benny gets kicked down the stairs and roughed up by one of Carlito’s men, I expect Jay-z to dispatch Memphis Bleek or a Beanie Siegel to handle the distraction that The Game is posing.
Just as in the movie Carlito's Way, if not handled based on the rules of the street, that person you just roughed up could come back for revenge. Hov needs to make sure whoever he dispatches to this nuisance has lyrical superiority and comes out on top. Failure to do so could result in a larger problem and force Jay-z to directly engage.
In the final analysis, there will always be a thousand live wire, loose cannon types like Game challenging Jay-z. But as Jay-z so eloquently put it, “my DNA in your music” , he has in many ways given birth or served as the catalyst in some form to the style that Game is using to disparage him. In an interesting twist of irony, Game's inability to recognize this has already proven him to be a prime candidate to self destruct. Game could benefit from a little introspective thought and some medicine to reduce the dimensia he is clearly not dealing with. Jay-z, himself, doesn’t have to do anything and most likely won’t.
I advise putting a foot soldier on this one.
Jay-Z also made great strides in Rap - Indie Rock relations.
Jay-Zeezer
Marc Lynch is associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.
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