Jay-Z vs the Game: Lessons for the American Primacy Debate

Driving into work this morning, Morning Edition had a quick segment with Marc Lynch, the author of this article. In it, he compares the hip hop fueds with world policy and draws some interesting parallels. This article focuses on the current fued between Jay-Z and The Game.

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.