Book Review | Decoded By Jay-Z


Identity is a prison you can never escape,
but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it,
but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.
- Jay-Z, Decoded

When I first read this book I had my fair share of reservations about it. Maybe I'm wrong for having the mindset of bad things can only come of artist and celebrities writing books only leads to slander and other things I don't care about to sell books and gain notoriety. So naturally I thought this was one of those kinds of books where he was going to go into great detail about his Rap career and talk about some situations or other artists at great length and throw them under the bus kind of deal. That was my main concern about this whole book ..

And boy how wrong I was.

Instead we get a dynamic view about how he came into being Jay-Z, how he developed his lyricism, the personal relationships he had with other prominent MC's and how they influenced him and helped him grow as an artist. What I was more interested in was the fact that he broke down his lyrics and what they actually meant. That's the most fascinating part of this, the fact that he took an in depth look at the lyrics that people most connected with and told us what it means to him. I really can't say too much about this book without giving away a lot of it, and you guys know that when I review anything that's what I don't do.

I know this is a very short book review this time around, but the content in this book is worth giving a read and not giving away. If you like Hip-Hop, you just like Jay-Z or you just like to see how a such a successful human being came to prominence, and what parts of his craft means to him, this book is for you. There's so much that I want to say but I simply can't because like I said before, it's so much in this book worth reading. I have to say that after reading this book I understand Jay-Z a little more and why he's making the moves that he's making, and it's all respect from me.

Have you read Decoded? If you have, then what was the best parts of the book to you, and if you haven't, what are you looking forward to when reading?

Until next time guys.

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