Money Game (Part 2) — The System
Business Economics in a Nursery Rhyme
“This is business economics in a nursery rhyme.” If Part 1 asked whether you could see the game, Part 2 shows you exactly how it’s played. Step by step. Shell by shell. Soul by soul.
The Tutorial
Money Game Part 2 is less performance art, more instruction manual. Where Part 1 was Ren circling under Brighton Pier asking us to look in the mirror, Part 2 is a lyric video—words on screen, nowhere to hide. This is the song, stripped down to its message: here’s how you turn an innocent transaction into a system that devours everything.
And it’s so clearly stated, so methodically laid out, that even Ren’s own inner critic quotes it back at him. In Hi Ren, when the darkness is tearing him down, it throws this line in his face: “Ren, mate, we’ve heard it all before / Uh, ‘she sells seashells on the sea shore.'” Not to dismiss the work—but to weaponize it. “You’ve already said the important stuff. You’ve already peaked. What else you got?”
That’s how significant Money Game Part 2 is in Ren’s catalogue. It’s the one even his harshest critic—himself—acknowledges as essential. Your demons only quote your best material.
She Sells Seashells on a Seashore
“Money is a game and the ladder we climb / Turns a saint into a sinner with his finger in crime / I’ll break it down for you motherfuckers line by line / This is business economics in a nursery rhyme.”
The seashells framework is brilliant because it starts so innocently. A girl selling shells on a beach—what’s the harm? But Ren takes that simple transaction and walks you through the exact process of how it becomes exploitation, monopoly, empire, and eventually, fascism. Ten steps from shells to the presidency. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Create Scarcity
“Shells will sell much better if the people think they’re rare, you see / Bare with me, take as many shells as you can find and hide ’em on an island stockpile ’em high until they’re rarer than a diamond.”
Artificial scarcity. Take something abundant and make it scarce. Diamonds aren’t rare—De Beers just controls the supply. Housing isn’t scarce—investors hoard properties. Food isn’t scarce—we throw away enough to feed the world. Scarcity is manufactured to drive up value.
Step 2: Make Them Want It
“You gotta make the people think that they want ’em / Really want ’em, really fuckin want ’em / Hit ’em like Bronson / Influencers, product placement, featured prime time entertainment / If you haven’t got a shell then you’re just a fucking waste man.”
Manufactured desire. You’re not selling a product; you’re selling status. Make people believe their worth is tied to ownership. If you don’t have it, you’re nobody. Social media influencers didn’t invent this game—they just perfected it.
Step 3: Monopolize
“It’s monopoly, invest inside some property, start a corporation, make a logo, do it properly / ‘Shells must sell’, that will be your new philosophy / Swallow all your morals they’re a poor man’s quality.”
This is where it gets dark. “Swallow all your morals they’re a poor man’s quality.” Ethics are for people who can’t afford to win. Once you’re playing for real stakes, conscience becomes a handicap. Bezos didn’t become the richest man by being kind. Musk didn’t build an empire by caring about workers. The game rewards ruthlessness.
Step 4: Expand
“Expand, expand, expand, clear forest, make land, fresh blood on hand.”
Growth at all costs. Forests become profits. Indigenous land becomes real estate. “Fresh blood on hand” isn’t metaphor—it’s history. Every empire expanded by clearing what was there before. The Amazon rainforest burns for cattle. Palestine is erased for settlements. Expansion requires destruction.
Step 5: Diversify
“Why just shells? Why limit yourself? She sells seashells, sell oil as well!”
Once you’ve captured one market, you take the next. Amazon started with books, now it sells everything. Google started with search, now it owns your data. Shell Oil started with… well, you get the point. Diversification isn’t innovation—it’s conquest.
Step 6: Weaponize Everything
“Guns, sell stocks, sell diamonds, sell rocks, sell water to a fish, sell the time to a clock.”
Commodify the essentials. Sell water back to people who used to drink from rivers. Privatize healthcare and charge people to stay alive. Time itself becomes a product—your hours, sold back to you in increments. Nestle believes water isn’t a human right. That’s Step 6 in action.
Step 7: Run for Office
“Press on the gas, take your foot off the brakes, run to be the president of the United States.”
Money buys power. Once you’ve monopolized markets, you monopolize politics. Trump wasn’t an anomaly—he’s the logical conclusion. When billionaires run for office, they’re not public servants; they’re CEOs expanding their portfolio. The state becomes another asset.
Step 8: Lie Constantly
“Big smile mate, big wave that’s great / Now the truth is overrated, tell lies out the gate.”
Once you’re in power, truth becomes optional. Deny climate change while your country burns. Deny inequality while people starve. Smile, wave, lie. The truth is whatever you say it is when you control the megaphone. “Alternative facts” isn’t Orwellian satire—it’s political strategy.
Step 9: Polarize
“Polarize the people, controversy is the game / It don’t matter if they hate you if they all say your name.”
Division is profitable. Keep people fighting each other and they won’t notice who’s robbing them. Left versus right, race versus race, generation versus generation. Doesn’t matter if they hate you—as long as they’re talking about you and not organizing against you. Outrage is engagement. Engagement is power.
Step 10: You Win
“The world is yours, step out on a stage to a round of applause / You’re a liar, a cheat, a devil, a whore / And you sell seashells on the seashore.”
Congratulations. You’ve climbed the ladder. You’ve won the money game. And all it cost was your soul. From seashells to presidency. From innocent transaction to fascist empire. Ten steps. That’s all it takes.
Business Economics in a Nursery Rhyme
The genius of framing this as a nursery rhyme is that it makes the horror digestible. We teach children “Ring Around the Rosie” without mentioning it’s about the plague. Ren uses the same device—a singsongy tutorial that hides how bleak the message actually is. By the time you realize what you’ve learned, you can’t unhear it.
This isn’t abstract political theory. It’s the exact playbook. Every tech billionaire, every oil baron, every political dynasty has followed these steps. Some skip a few. Some do them out of order. But they all end up in the same place: on top of a system built on bones.
The Lyric Video Format
Part 1 was theater—Ren and Romain Axisa under the pier, one continuous shot, raw and immediate. Part 3 will be cinematic (with actual budget and awards to prove it). But Part 2 is just words on a screen. No performance to distract you. No visual metaphor to interpret. Just the tutorial, delivered straight.
It’s fitting. When you’re teaching someone how to destroy the world, you don’t need theatrics. You just need clarity.
Connecting to Part 1
Part 1 ended with “point the mirror at ourselves / We’re all part of this old money game.” Part 2 shows you why that’s true. You don’t have to be a billionaire to be complicit. Every time you choose cheap over ethical, convenience over conscience, you’re playing. Every time you buy from Amazon knowing how they treat workers, you’re on Step 2. Every time you vote for tax cuts while people starve, you’re on Step 7.
The tutorial isn’t just for aspiring oligarchs. It’s for all of us, showing how the small choices compound into the system we claim to hate.
The Hi Ren Connection
When Ren’s inner darkness quotes “she sells seashells on the sea shore” back at him in Hi Ren, it’s not dismissal—it’s recognition. This is the work that matters. This is the line that defines him. And that’s exactly why his demons use it as a weapon. “You’ve already said everything important. What else is there?”
It’s the cruelest form of self-sabotage: not “you’re shit” but “you’ve already peaked, so why bother?” The fact that Money Game Part 2 is the work his own mind weaponizes against him proves how significant it is. Your harshest critic doesn’t quote your failures—they quote your triumphs to convince you you’ll never reach them again.
What Comes Next
Part 1 asked if you could see the game. Part 2 showed you how it works. Part 3 will show you what it costs. Not in abstract terms, but in one man’s life. From birth to 45, cradle to grave, the money game played out in real time.
If Part 2 is the instruction manual, Part 3 is the autopsy report.
The Vault’s Reflection
Money Game Part 2 is the clearest map Ren has ever drawn. Ten steps from innocence to empire, from transaction to tyranny. It’s the song even his inner demons acknowledge as essential—which is exactly why they use it against him. The tutorial is complete. Now we watch what it does to the people who follow it.
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I think the way the economics and topic of “scarcity” is broken down in this track is one of the most powerful but simple messages in the trilogy. It may seem to some as painfully obvious, but its not always. How value is assigned and who decides that is such an important topic for us all to contemplate. Why are investment bankers valued (paid) so much more than the nurses and social workers that take care of those that need it the most? Who decides on the value of art/artists and why are those that buy art for their investment portfolios, the same people that call artists lazy hippies? How to spending trends and “fashions” start, who influences it and how is it all impacted by financial trading and global crisis? This track highlights all of this on a basic level then leaves the rest open for personal deep dives… sadly though it often still seems like its preaching to the converted without a rallying cry to unified action…. I think many people agree with the issues, but dont know the next steps…. The one thing that has been inspiring to see though, is the Renegade community and the empathetic force for good that is being created, often by those with the most reason to be cynical xxx
Aly, this is exactly why your insights always add so much depth. Money Game 1 pulls the curtain back, but you’ve just highlighted why it matters — who decides value, who benefits, and who pays the quiet price beneath it all.
And you’re right… the Renegade community really does prove that empathy can exist even in a system designed to make us numb. Thank you for another beautifully grounded take. 💛