Books: Jay-Z’s ‘Decoded’ Drops November 16th

Jay-Z has been making some power moves as of late, one recent was the creation of his book ‘Decoded.’ The book will hit stores shelves November 16th, within the pages you will find illustrations and 36 of your favorite HOV songs decoded. The publishing company Random House will also release the book to be eBook, and iPhone/iPad application friendly. The image used for the cover is part of Andy Warhol’s 1984 “Rorschach” paintings. Below is an excerpt of HOV explaining the purpose behind the book.

“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”