"Yeeeee niggas (He he he he he haaaaa)
So this is what it all boils down to, huh? Huh?
This is what it's come to, huh? Huh?"
His introduction (which is quite vague) lays out his intention to provide disincentives to "niggas." A natural question arises as to whom he is directing his economic disincentive. This is important for our analysis to consider 1) who the economic actor is and 2) whether that actor will act in such a way that Mr. Phillips would like them to act. Is it the entire set of "niggas" or is it a unique subset of "niggas"? This vagueness leaves us with no direction as to the size of the group to which he proposes these disincentives. Without loss of generality, let us assume he is speaking to all those who considers themselves as such. (Even in the absence of this forthcoming disincentive, we can safely assume there would exist a subset of "niggas" who are already acting the way Mr. Phillips would like without providing any further
Now that we have laid out who the economic actors are, we can safely proceed.
"I ain't asked you to fear it
Mandatory you think about it after you hear it
And it's the evils that's gonna make you have to compare it
You know me, I swing back through and see who got hit after I air it"
Let's see if Mr. Phillips can redeem himself. He has clearly lost some credibility.
"Then blow you out the water, I'm out of your order
Me verse any rapper is slaughter"
Me verse any rapper is slaughter"
Mr. Phillips now says any rapper that would battle against him would be slaughtered. Clearly, there is evidence to back this up. A quick Google search of "Jadakiss battle" brings up such terms like "Jada murdered 50" and "Jada slaughtered Beenie." I believe his credibility is somewhat restored by dealing in rational statistically relevant facts rather than the irrational behavior that was described above.
"Something like a poet and an author
The only difference is that I mix slick talk with pain and torture"
The only difference is that I mix slick talk with pain and torture"
The United Nations describes torture as "...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions."
We need not go into his mixing of "pain" and "torture". Torture (as defined by the UN) clearly has pain as an element of torture. Mr. Phillips is clearly attempting coerce a third party by mixing his talk with torture. In this sense, it can be accepted that he means psychological toture in which "is directed at the psyche with calculated violations of psychological needs, along with deep damage to psychological structures and the breakage of beliefs underpinning normal sanity." But when listening to this song, Mr. Phillips never attempts to damage anyone psychologically. It is false after hearing this song that this specific song has been mixed with pain and torture. Again, if Mr. Phillips will not make credible threats, his disincentive structure will be weak.
"One false move will cost ya
These lames will cross ya
Don't let the game extort ya
Try to learn from what the game has taught ya
I'm the author of slick talk, pain, and torture"
Don't let the game extort ya
Try to learn from what the game has taught ya
I'm the author of slick talk, pain, and torture"
Again, Mr. Phillips is vague with the cost of the false move. Exactly how much will it cost? His answer seems to be extortion and "lames cross[ing] y[ou]" It seems this statement is vague and not well thought out. He seems to ask us to go on faith on his assessment of the false move. Maybe if there is a profit making opportunity, the false move will be worth it, because the benefits of the false move may outweigh its costs. Mr. Phillips seems to think the market in "false moves" is at an equilibrium point, without telling us exactly why.
"They rappin' with hostility, meanin' they whack"
He describes a direct increasing relationship between hostility and "whackness", namely as hostility increases, "whackness" also follows. He fails do describe whether this relationship is linear or non-linear and whether it is continuous function. Further, are their other elements related to "whackness." He seems to isolate one area of "whackness" but a cursory glance of the concept "whackness" could include other elements (ie. the ability to not rap, etc...). Let's assume there are diminishing returns to "whackness" as a rapper becomes more hostile. Clearly, there must be some hostility to the rap (I mean, Mr. Phillip's song is quite hostile... Is he undermining his own argument?), but there must be the correct amount of hostility, namely when the marginal benefit to hostility equals the marginal cost of hostility. Mr. Phillips' statement is too general. Again, he is not credible.
"Knowin' that they up against a nigga just like myself that'll kill 'em"
He lays out further disincentives to the economic agents who wish to go up "against" him. Clearly, he's provided evidence that in a "rap" sense, he will kill any rapper. But how about those rappers who have no interest in going up against him, how does he propose we (or he) change their behavior? He is silent on this point.
While Mr. Phillips provides a disincentive structure, and while his career gives him some credibilty, his argument here is not credible. He wants "niggas" to act in a specific way but he provides little to no amount of credibilty to alter his behavior. His "torture" is weak and ineffective and changes no ones behavior. It is unclear what he is attempting to do here. Mr. Phillips, try again. You're grade is solely based on your career.
Incentive Structure Grade: B-
