The book "Decoded" is broken down into two parts; stories from Shawn "Jay-Z" Carters' life and explanations of verses from various songs. He'll tell anecdotes for a few pages and then have a page with a 16 and his narration on the next page. What I find funny is how he expresses regret for certain things he's said over the course of his recording career. "Big Pimpin" in particular("Me give my heart to a woman/Not for nothin/never happen I'll be forever mackin") Seeing as he's now married this doesn't apply today. Actually sitting down and reading his lines gives me an ever deeper appreciation for his artistry. A lot of this book (like his music) is dedicated to his hustling days. We learn that young Shawn Carter was a savvy hustler (he didn't smoke weed because it was-in his words-for "slackers" and "workers" and he wanted to maintain his focus) Most of his hustling career was spent taking out of town trips to places like New Jersey, Baltimore, D.C. and Virginia. When he finally decides to segue into music(even after witnessing his then mentor Jaz get taken advantage of by the music industry) the lessons he's learned on the street(traveling, organization, money management) were applied to his rap hustle. This reminds me of a theory Malcolm X had about black hustlers and mis-directed energy-That if black hustlers took the energy they put into criminal activities into something legit they could be doctors, lawyers, accountants, and business men. Jay-Z is living proof of this theory in my opinion.
I could talk about more but I don't want to spoil it for everyone. I'll just end it with some quotes from the book that I liked.
"Weakness and dependence made you a mark, like a dope fiend. Success could only mean self efficiency, being a boss, not a dependent."
"We(Jay-Z, Dame Dash and Biggs) made short and long term projections but we kept it realistic, the key thing is that we wrote it down, which is as important as visualization in realizing success."
"I wanted to kill Auto-tune like Kurt Cobain killed hairbands."
"I love sharp people; men or women, nothing makes me like someone more than intelligence."
(Why he appreciated the honesty and vulnerability of Slick Rick and Scarface)"...you don't spend every moment of every day as a fucking killing machine. That's the stereotype of young black men, of course. And sometimes we play along with it. But its not true, even when we wish it was."
"Its true that I'm able to sometimes come up with songs in a matter of minutes after hearing the track, but that's a skill that I've honed over hundreds of hours of practice and work since I was nine."
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Decoded
