Jay-Z: A Study in International Relations

What can Jay-Z teach us about Foreign Policy and International Relations? Quite a bit apparently:

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.

It's a really interesting piece from Marc Lynch who blogs at Foreign Policy. (It's sort of funny to me to be linking to a blog entry at Foreign Policy. Growing up it's the only magazine I every remember seeing at my grandparent's house and it was endlessly intimidating. Nevermind, as my mom pointed out in the comments, they subscribed to Foreign Affairs, not Foreign Policy.)