DECODED
by Shawn JAY-Z Carter
Fiercely candid, uncompromising, provocative, inspiring – DECODED is the long awaited first book by the multi-platinum, 10 time Grammy Award winning artist, entrepreneur, and icon JAY-Z.
"When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted it to do three important things. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics – not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC – are poetry if you look at them closely enough. The second was I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history. And the third piece was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to." – JAY-Z, from DECODED
Unique in every sense, DECODED is a narrative journey through the lyrics and life of one of the most prolific artists of our time. JAY-Z describes the hidden meanings behind some of his most provocative songs and provides a highly personal narrative of the culture that so powerfully shaped his life and art.
Featuring an image of Andy Warhol's Rorschach on the cover, the beautifully designed book decodes 36 songs from JAY-Z's extensive catalog. JAY-Z selected each song for particular reasons. Many songs contain back stories both personal and professional that he shares with readers now for the first time, offering an intimate, first-hand account of his work, his life, and the artistic process of creating some of the world's most celebrated rhymes. JAY-Z emerges from this book as you've never seen him before offering insight into how his experiences shaped each line of his songs.
DECODED begins: "I saw the circle before I saw the kid in the middle. I was nine years old, the summer of 1978, and Marcy was my world." For JAY-Z lyrics aren't just about songs, they're about life, and in DECODED he brings his own story to life, writing about his journey from Brooklyn's notorious Marcy Projects to becoming a world-class artist, cultural icon, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
In this powerful story, JAY-Z discusses what it was like growing up being a hustler and feeling like everyone judged who you were based on where you were from. In his own words: "I went straight – stopped selling drugs – but I also didn't accept the false choice between poverty and breaking the law." How did he harness a desire for change when all around him was the same old thing? How did he forgive a father who left him? How did visual art and poetry influence his craft? How did he maintain perspective after an unimaginable rise to fame, and how did he balance money with social responsibility? How did he get involved in politics when he never really trusted the system? How did he stay honest to himself in the world of big business and how did he shed stereotypes when he'd been labeled one all his life? These are some of the major issues that he provocatively addresses. They are issues that affected him and continue to affect our country today. Readers will come away with a fresh understanding not only of this remarkable artist and his work but also of the particular time and culture in America that helped create him.
DECODED tells the story of a culture, an art form, a moment in history. DECODED is a story as unforgettable and as amazing as its subject.
Jay-Z
DECODED (signed copy)
$95.00