What to listen to while you read your Thucydides and the other books I recommended? I've given some thought to the issue.
1. "Advance Pawns" by GZA ft. RZA
The classical realist anthem. RZA declares that "In this high tech world of fire wire and microchip/ We still keep the four-five clip, filled with the spiral tip." No Information Dominance for the Wu-Tang--fear, honor, and interest prevail in all circumstances.
2. "Da Glock" by the Wu-Tang Clan.
In this song, the RZA, Ghostface, and others enumerate a host of sticky situations that made them glad that they had, in fact, brought their Glocks with them. In a world of anarchy, self-help is the rule.
3. "Warning" by Notorious B.I.G.
Richard K. Betts and Roberta Wohlsetter tell us that the key to preventing strategic surprise lies in deciphering signal from "noise" as well as putting the proper procedures in place to respond and break the assault in progress. In this song, B.I.G. not only correctly identifies a plot to stick him for his paper but ambushes them with seconds to spare. As Alex of i-Con points out, Betts would see B.I.G. as a model of recognition-primed decisionmaking in progress.
4. "Takeover" by Jay-Z.
It is one thing to read your Mearsheimer and talk about Offensive Realism, but this classic from The Blueprint is a great visualization of it. Jay-Z in this song launches a massive war against strategic competitors Nas and Mobb Deep in order to preserve his position as dominant hegemon of the rap game.
5. "We Takin' Over" by DJ Khaled ft. Akon, T.I, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Baby, and Lil' Wayne
While I recall that at least one blogger (can't remember who though) said the song was about counterinsurgency, but this song is a description of the logic of criminal insurgency: "If you want to, we can supply you/got enough work to feed the whole town/they won't shoot you unless you try to/come around and try to stomp on our ground." Of course, this ground is also expanding, as the rappers enumerate the ever-growing list of cities they are expanding their operations to.
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