In a tribute to arguably the worst "rapper" in the market, we would would be remissed if we did not take the opportunity to exam his most popular jingle "Turn My Swag On" that seems to have taken off in the market.

Hopped up off tha bed
Turn ma swag on
Took a look in tha mirror said wassup (wassup)
Yeeeeea I'm gettin money (ohh)

DeAndre Ramone Way, better known to his followers as "Soulja Boy" (an abriged version of his full stage name "Soulja Boy Tell 'Em") opens up this "song" by telling us that he has just "hopped" off of his bed. This implies a sense of excitement. Rather than just rising from bed, DeAndre "hops" out of his bed. Unless DeAndre posses some unknown physical abilities, it is physically impossible to hop (jump lightly) while laying down. This must imply that DeAndre is in a standing position on his bed. DeAndre is excited and standing on his bed, prepared to hop. The scene is now set for our analysis. DeAndre then, "turns his swag on", then proceeds to look in the mirror to speak to himself - in fact, he says "wassup" to himself as if seeing himself for the first time. The event that occurs in between him hopping out of bed and speaking to himself in the mirror, "turn my swag on", is the event we need to analyze for it is the thesis to his song.
It is not immediately clear what DeAndre means by "swag", and what exactly he is turning on. There is no known machine that is referred to as the "swag", so he must be referring to a figuritive element which he has the power turn on or off. He leaves it to us to find the answer to these nagging questions. Merriam-Webster defines "swag" as a noun meaning :
1. a. An ornamental drapery or curtain draped in a curve between two points.
b. An ornamental festoon of flowers or fruit.
c. A carving or plaster molding of such an ornament.
2. Promotional items, especially when given for free, considered as a group.
3. Slang Stolen property; loot.
4. Australian The pack or bundle containing the personal belongings of a swagman.
5. Slang Herbal tea in a plastic sandwich bag sold as marijuana to an unsuspecting customer

One could argue definition 2 or 3 may imply that he has either stolen a radio or an electric razor or has been given it as part of a promotion, and is now in use of such stolen or free property. It is not immediately clear that he is speaking of an actual physical item though. Maybe if he claimed "I'm about to shave, turn my swag on", then one could argue that he is about to use a physical object. His definition seems to reside in the realm of the intagibles. To get at the true definition, we must use non-traditional sources to understand what he speaks of. I believe most sociologists would not disagree with the use of the Urban Dictionary so we can extract the relevant meanings in this cultural piece. According to the Urban Dictionary, "swag" is defined as:
1. the way one carries their self
2. The thing that makes everyone in a room stop what they are doing and pay attention to you. Everyone has a swag, the
only problem is finding it. Swag can also be refered to as "Pimp Juice".

Of the 123 definitions I found, I believe these two carry much weight. Definition 2 especially ties the entire first verse together. Once DeAndre turns his swag on, even he cannot resist it, and must look in the mirror and say "wassup" to himself. Extraordinary! DeAndre carries such a "swag", that not even his own "swag" can resist to but acknowledge itself. Philosophically, I do not immediately know what this means, that the "swag" can exist outside of the carrier, but that analysis is far beyond the scope of this analysis.
Let us continue to see if we can extract any further information to understand his motive behind making this piece. We will attempt to answer whether or not DeAndre has some economic rationale in this song. What is he attempting to say?

Turn ma swag on,
It's ma turn now turn it up
Yeeeeea, yeeeeea
I put my team on, and ma theme song
Now it's time to turn it up
Yeeeeea, yeeeea soulja boy tell em

This verse fails to clarify the where he got this "swag" from, what the nature of his specific "swag" is, and how it effects those around him, namely, the externalities associated with having such a strong "swag". Public policy officials clearly need to know how much of a threat DeAndre's "swag" presents. Clearly, it is so powerful, that he cannot resist it himself. If it presents an externality, should it be subject to regulation by the proper authorities (we concede that we do not even know what authorities could regulate this "swag"). But clearly, DeAndre has the ability to turn his "swag" up. Some questions arise after this statement. How high can this "swag" go? Should his "swag" be turned to a point where it affects the public? These are normative questions of economics; namely what is the correct amount of "swag" a person should have. Free-marketers would be against such regulation, but it seems that "swag" is not an ordinary good like a widget.
Clearly his "swag" gives him the ability to "put his team on." DeAndre's "swag" allows him to employ others, but it is not immediately clear what role his team serves. Does DeAndre put his team on simply so they are employed and share in the riches that his "swag" creates? This seems to be the case! DeAndre is following a Communist form of resource allocation. His team does not contribute to any production. If they did, we would see his team attempting to create value with their own skills. But these laborers in the service of DeAndre add no value, yet he continues to keep them on.

I got a question why they hattin on me,
I got a question why they hattin on me
I aint did nuthin to em, but count this money
And put my team on, now my whole clic stunnin for watz up
Boy wassup, yeeeea
Boy wassup, yeeeea

DeAndre asks a simple question. Given his "swag", people are hating on him, but why? Clearly, DeAndre needs to understand a phenomenon taking place here. "Swag" is inversely proportional to "hat(ing)". So as the amount of "swag" increases, its marginal value at some point actually decreases utility. There is a backward-bending supply curve of "swag." I am sure there is a reasonable amount of "swag" that allows people to gain prominence, but past that, the utility associated with "swag" decreases for others (and for himself). There is an externality associated with "swag." So DeAndre is using too much of this "swag" that he has, and the case can be made for regulation. So when he says that he hasn't done anything but "count his money", he ignores the amount of "swag" that he is expending. The line, "And put my team on, now my whole clic stunnin for watz up" makes no sense. We shall move on to the next session.

When I was 9 years old, I put it in ma head
Ima die for this gold
Soulja boy tellem
Boy wassup, yeeeea

DeAndre's priorities, 10 years ago (in 1999) was to die for "this" gold. This means DeAndre values his life in terms of gold, but it is unclear how much gold. This is important because if we find how much he values his life in gold, we can extrapolate the value of this "swag", and create a market for it (theoretically of course, there would be some logistical issues with selling "swag"), so the person who values "swag" the most could get it. We must find out how much gold (or expected amount of gold to be had over his lifetime) he has, then place a value on his life. Some may find this heartless and cold, calculating a man's life through gold, but remember, it is DeAndre who opened the door, we just happened to peek through it. The last line is also strange. Is DeAndre still speaking to himself?


I'm back again,
I know a lot of yall thought I was coming back
Yeeeeea, yeeeea
I had to prove them wrong,
Got back in the studio and came up with another hit
Yeeeeea, yeeeea
I told the world my story, the world where I'm from
SouljaboyXL.com, boy wassup
Yeeeeea, yeeeea

DeAndre says that he has returned. He doesn't say where he went, nor was it apparent to anyone that he actually left. DeAndre has contradicted his orginal statement! If it wasn't apparent to anyone that he left, then his "swag" must not be as powerful as we once thought. What did DeAndre do to be able to control his swag. Again, his absence (if he was absent in the first place) is puzzling. Maybe this is his rationale for turning up his "swag." At low levels of exposure, "swag" is hard to detect, but at high levels, we can see the "swag" has effects, even on the origin of the "swag."
DeAndre says he must prove "them" wrong. This is an apparent strawman argument because he doesn't name who he has to prove wrong, nor the arguments that they made. He implies that their argument is that he could not make another hit. Again, that is not clear. It is only implied. DeAndre would be wise to state the arguments of the "them" he speaks of, and exactly who they are. DeAndre is then satisfied that he has told the world "his story." Sadly, he is unsuccessful in adding anymore relevant facts about his origins. All we know at this verse is 1. in the morning, he stands on his bed and jumps lighlty, 2. he is supplying too much "swag" that cause disutilities and externalities and 3. at 9 years old, the valuation of his life was in some unspecified amount of gold. If this is all he wants us to know, then this is quite an uninteresting story indeed. He then lists a reference where we can find more information. I politely will decline his request. Is he still talking to himself?

Now everytime you see me spit
Every time you hear me rhyme
Everytime you see me in your state of town
Say wassup
Yeeeeea, yeeeea

His last appeal is that whenever you see him rhyme or "spit" (which in the vernacular of the hood, his statement is quite redundant), or if we see him in our "state of town", to say hello. What is a "state of town"? (We understand this may be a transcription error) Clearly he means "state or town." He doesn't provide the means to contact him. So if we are watching tv in Philadelphia, and we see him in Pittsburgh, he would like us to say hello. A rational person would not say hello to a television. So he must mean, we must incur some cost to travel and say hello, send a text, or make a call. Let's say the cost of a text message is $0.10 and the likely method of communication. DeAndre believes that his presence, for those not in his vicinity, to be worth at least 10 cents for each viewing, just to say hello. I believe he has mispriced the equilibrium of the market to say hello to Soulja Boy. I would pay nothing to say hello to him. I actually do not want to speak to him at all. If we aggregate over the entire population, I think we would find the price to be closer to zero than DeAndre thinks.
DeAndre makes no direct threats, but makes an indirect one. He will turn up his "swag" to provide disincentives to both himself and his "haters." DeAndre does not care what effect turning the "swag" up is on himself. He is not acting rationally. He values his life with unknown amounts of gold. He is a madman. But this should have been apparent, because he acts as a central planner employing his "team" which adds no value to his production. DeAndre's incentives would have been an A+, due to his disregard for his own life and irrational behavior, but he undercuts his own argument because no one noticed he left, so his "swag" wasn't powerful to begin with.
Incentive Grade: F