Always been a fan of his words and his speaking. I read stuff like that.Ī footnote in Decoded reads, “Shout-out to Alfred, Lord Tennyson.” Do you read poetry? The Celestine Prophecy, The Seat of the Soul, The Odyssey. Mostly I’m not into fiction, except for The Odyssey, which is pretty fictional.
Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Gandhi. My influences, whether they wrote a book or not, is Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X - who did write a book - you know. What other artists do you have in your house?ĭavid Hammons, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, but this image also lends itself to the title, Decoded. There’s a whole section about a painting you own that says “Most Young Kings Get Their Head Cut Off.” You mention Basquiat in the book so much, though. It’s, like, one of the best pieces in my house and I’m very attracted to it. I own one of those over the fireplace in my living room. As well as it being one of my favorite images. You know, some songs mean something for you. People get different things out of different songs.
Why did you pick Andy Warhol for Decoded’s cover?īesides him being a genius? I just thought it was, first of all, “decoded.” Rorschach is very famous. No, this was always intended to be a book about lyrics and the stories behind how we arrived at this particular song or point or emotion or opinion.īut weren’t you writing a memoir that turned out to be too personal? Were there ever plans to make this more of a straight-ahead memoir? During our official time together, we discussed the book, Jay’s literary influences, and that new Hammer video. Actually, it was more like 30, because we were waiting around like a puppy afterward for him to sign our copy of Decoded, his new sorta-memoir in which he explains the origins of his lyrics. Before his talk on Monday with Cornel West at the New York Public Library, Vulture sat down with Jay-Z amid the chandeliers and marble of the NYPL’s Trustees Room for a whole eleven minutes.
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