Jay-Z is to release a book about his life this year. The rapper, whose real name is Shawn Carter, collaborated with music writer and editor of The Source Dream Hampton on 'Decoded', which mixes his own first-person memoirs, interviews with friends and family and detail discussions of his most famous and controversial lyrics.
The book will look back over Carter's turbulent youth, from his childhood in Brooklyn's Marcy Projects to his drug dealing teenage years to his present lifestyle as a music star. Jay-Z has been talking about writing his memoirs for some time, and 'Decoded' was reportedly completed several years ago. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Jay-Z admitted that he was reluctant to release the finished product.
"It's too much. For the book, I was interviewed, people close to me were interviewed. So I was learning a lot of things I didn't know as a child. It's not anything I haven't said in the past, in songs. It's just more detailed. A song is three minutes long. A book doesn't have to rhyme, and it has no time limit, so you can say exactly how everything went."
The 336 page book also sees Carter remember his father, who left his family when he was just 11.
"It was still wrong, at the end of the day, but he did stick around at a time where it wasn't particularly cool or popular. He married my mom at a time when guys were just leaving, and you'd never even meet your dad. So it made me ease up a little bit in how I felt about him."
'Decoded' is due for release on November 16th.
