While reading Decoded, I was often thinking, ‘Hold-up a minute – if Jay-Z doesn’t even write down his rhymes on paper, how has he got time to write a cot damn BOOK?’ Then on page 309, after it’s all said and done, he reveals the plot twist – ‘First and foremost I’d like to acknowledge Dream Hampton1. How can I thank you enough?2 You’ve lived my words and life for so long that you might need therapy to get back to yours (sorry, Nina). Dream, thanks again for suffering my art (I mean, you were in Martha’s Vineyard but still, ha).3
Having picked up this book for $6 on the off-chance there would be a couple of amusing The Jaz and Big Daddy Kane anecdotes, I guess it ‘Got The Job Done’4. If you skip the nauseating lyric annotation sections, where Jay provides a paragraph explaining the nuances of the line ’till I need a nut, til I need to beat the guts’ from ‘Big Pimpin’5 The earlier sections of the book provide the most insight into his childhood and early days of dipping his toes into music, while constantly reminding us of how awesome he was at selling drugs6 But as is the duality of man, for every fun fact about DJ Clark Kent we must endure tales of smoking expensive cigars with Bono.7
The highlight for me, the founder of the A Salute To Weed Carriers blog in 2005, was seeing the term ‘weed carrier’ used on page 758 Was this a direct quote from Jay-Z or an addition from dream?9. I guess we’ll never know. Speaking of weed holders, Memphis Bleek is the only member of the Roc-A-Fella roster to really get any coverage10, with Beanie Segal, Freeway, Sauce Money and co all relegated to the benches. Jay-Z, much like Ice Cube before him, has left a string of disgruntled pals in his wake over the course of his storied music career.
Is this because he’s some kind of thoughtless jerk or just the nature of capitalism itself? Once Jay’s Roc La Familia associates outgrew their purpose in his grand plan (or simply just failed to sell enough CDs), they either started their own thing or wasted time making diss record about their former benefactor. Let’s just be glad that Big Daddy Kane had the self-respect to never resorting to asking for Jay to return the favor for bringing him on tour in the early days.
Elsewhere, the sections that deal with Jay-Z’s appreciation for Slick Rick and Rakim are a reminder of how serious of a student he is of this thing called rap11, and it almost made me want to revisit some of his old music until I remembered that for all of his merits as a rapper, the absolute lack of bass and confidence in his voice really kills the vibe for me.12. If you can handle having Jay-Z explain (Jaysplain?) that when he says ‘mackin’ in a song it’s a reference to the film The Mack (huh?) and are keen to hear about what happeneded when EMI flew The Jaz and Jay-Z to London in the eighties, then by all means track this book down in your local bargain bin.
- her name should be stylised as dream hampton by the way [↩]
- Maybe put dream’s name on the cover? The Autobiography of Malcolm X has ‘As told to Alex Haley’ on the cover. [↩]
- So I guess Jay was just recording voice memo into his phone and emailing them to dream hampton to turn into something readable? [↩]
- Shout-out to the best New Jack Swing song by an actual rapper [↩]
- the target audience for this book seems to be for people who don’t know anything about rap, so need even the most basic of references explained in detail. It’s also provides Jay with the opportunity to remind us just how witty he is, patting himself on the back at every turn. [↩]
- this never ceases to amuse me, why does everyone tell on themselves at the drop of a hat in these things? [↩]
- fortunately there aren’t any references to recording not one, but TWO album with serial nonce R. Kelly [↩]
- Shout-out to Byron Crawford and Fitz! [↩]
- or one of dreams’s weed/wine carriers? [↩]
- equal parts a tip of the hat and chastisement [↩]
- the less said about his Biggie Smalls obsession, the better [↩]
- Maybe he should have just gotten Barsha to perform his lyrics instead? [↩]