Summary of Decoded

 Jay-Z wrote the book "Decoded" about his life and the Hip-Hop Industry. It was released in 2010.

Born 10 pounds/greatest spitter of sounds/as a kid I fought rounds/of rap battles in the streets/on playgrounds/made my own sounds to rap on/My story ain’t no once upon/a time to tell the greatest tale rags to riches/made it rich but never scrubbed dishes/instead I stood on street corners/never had no owners/From drug dealin/to word wheelin’/this is my faerie tale

Momma bought me a nookbook/I aint no crook/ just a black poet/ I know it’s hard to know it/when I rap about hustlin’ and dealin’ and my friends who be stealin’/Let’s make this clear, those things were never my mission, just a product of my livin’ condition/where everybody be snickin/

I never grew up wishin’/to be on the streets d-dealin’/just telling you my hustler story/swear I ain’t trying to make it out as a glory/what I’ve done is done/my song isn’t going to corrupt your son/You don’t cover up the truth to make it go away/I got some more to say

I use language to represent/all the anger and rage we got pent/from living in poverty my whole life/My daddy don’t even have a wife/left me alone to watch my own/that hurt worse than any stone/but to make matters worse/that same curse afflicted all my friends/No father in the lions dens/

I know mamas don’t like my N-word/they don’t realize I was an A-nerd/Photographic memory as sharp as an arrow/the path I walked is kinda narrow/No room for the dumb/under the music industries thumb/don’t ask me how kayne got here/he’s from some other atmosphere/

My audience ain’t no PC mommas/ it’s the poor in the Bahamas/the poor in Brooklyn/So I use the N-word/and people scream it’s absurd/I’m just telling it like it is/so just sit and listen to me Mizz/censorship doesn’t make it go away/Do you understand me Ok?/if you can’t handle my story/can’t handle when the world gets gory/we gotta fix poverty/That’s the center of my harmony/the projects are scary because the rich made ‘em like that/we band under the gangster hat/for protection from oppression/my art is a confession/of the truth/This ain’t weird Al spoof

I had bigger plans than school/had an Industry to rule/stood on street corners and rapped in my head/Barely talked, people though me brain dead/two choices/The drug dealing road/that can leave a man oh so cold/Or roll in the hip-hop mood/and risk having no food/Didn’t know which path to take/tried to quit but dealing is like charming a snake/if you stop ya get bit/I couldn’t risk a quit/my crew told my rapping was for the fool/my band told me drugs were a death tool/which way to go/I didn’t know

With a ratatat my supplier was dead/Shot through the head/balls in his own mouth/I left before things went south/I knew it was time to stop/time to embrace hip-hop/My homies dragged me to labels/But I got dismissed like a books of fables/So I opened the R.O.C/opened it for Nigz just like me/Local MC’s can see the good things in me/We spent the summer producing an album/I couldn’t fathom that I had just launched the biggest rap label/my CD took off like a cable/car I knew was going to go far

I wanted to stop after the first/but poets have a curse/the words just keep coming/the tunes I’m still humming/The world wanted more/I went on my 2^nd tour/My first was with the MC kane/He knock rhymes out like a bowling ball in lane/before long I launched three records/Reasonable Doubt, The black album, Life and times of Shawn Carter/Now everyone knew who was smarter/Those that rejected me wanted me back/change labels now was totally wack/I was going to be the guy/Just saying my name got folks high/My raps were in demand/even by those without a tan/I had transcended the racial barrier/Flew over like a harrier/Rags to riches/I Never scrubbed dishes

Now everyone knows my name/my success opened a whole new game/National figure/grew out of a quiet clever nigger/I’ve put a president in office/Inspire the youth to be pompous/I might go down in history as the greatest rapper to ever be! My name is Jay-Z