“I couldn't even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldn't let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn't stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of kee...”
Work
<i>Decoded </i>is a book like no other: a collection of lyrics and their meanings that together tell the story of a culture, an art form, a moment in history, and one of the most provocative and successful artists of our time.<br><b><br>Praise for <i>Decoded<br><br></i></b>“Compelling . . . provocative, evocative . . . Part autobiography, part lavishly illustrated commentary on the author’s own work, <i>Decoded</i> gives the reader a harrowing portrait of the rough worlds Jay-Z navigated in his youth, while at the same time deconstructing his lyrics.”<b>—Michiko Kakutani, <i>The New York Times</i></b><br><br> “One of a handful of books that just about any hip hop fan should own.”<b>—<i>The New Yorker</i></b><br> <br> “Elegantly designed, incisively written . . . an impressive leap by a man who has never been known for small steps.”<b>—<i>Los Angeles Times</i></b><br> <b> </b><br> “A riveting exploration of Jay-Z’s journey . . . So thoroughly engrossing, it reads like a good piece of cultural journalism.”<b>—<i>The Boston Globe </i></b><br><br> “Shawn Carter’s most honest airing of the experiences he drew on to create the mythic figure of Jay-Z . . . The scenes he recounts along the way are fascinating.”<b>—<i>Entertainment Weekly </i></b><br><b><br></b>“Hip-hop’s renaissance man drops a classic. . . . Heartfelt, passionate and slick.”<b>—<i>Kirkus Reviews</i> (starred review)</b>
Quotes
Showing 1-2 of 2
Jay-Z
Canonical work source
“I couldn't even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldn't let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn't stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of kee...”
“A poet's mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.”