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.
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.
