Jay-Z, highly regarded as one of the best rappers of all time, has written an autobiography about his life on the streets and how he became a global success in the music industry. However his book 'Decoded' is not a typical celebrity autobiography about lifestyle and fame but more about literally decoding some of his most powerful lyrics. Jay-Z said one of the reasons why he wrote this book was to show that rap is a form of poetry. He also said that he wanted the book to tell the story of the struggle of his generation.
In his song 'Public Service Annoucement' Jay-Z ends with the words "No matter where you go/ you are what you are player/ And you can try to change but that's just the top layer/ Man, you was who you was 'fore you got here/ Only God can judge me, so I'm gone/ Either love me, or leave me alone." With these words Jay-Z is making the point that no matter who you are or what you do with your life, your identity will always be shaped by where you come from. Therefore, although Jay-Z goes from selling drugs on the streets to becoming so successful, he is still defined by his life as a hustler. Jay-Z says at another point in the book that for him; "Hustling is the ultimate metaphor for the basic human struggle: the struggle to survive and resist, the struggle to win and to make sense of it all."
Although Jay-Z believes a person's background inevitably shapes who they are, he does not believe that their identity cannot be reshaped. For example, if you make a sculpture out of clay, this sculpture can be remoulded using the same material. He says that "identity isn't a prison you can never escape from, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow." In other words, referring back to the lyrics of 'Public Service Announcement', a person cannot run away from their past and hope to change because they would only be changing the top layer. However it is possible to embrace your past,and use it as a foundation to grow.
I haven't read very much of the book but it's very interesting and I'm going to continue reading it, foccussing on analysing specific lyrics and being able to refer to them as poetry in the exam on the struggle for identity.
