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Allow Shawn Carter to reintroduce himself: His name is Hov — H to the O-V (he used to move snowflakes by the O-Z).
Okay, illest rap lyrics of the 21st century (excepting maybe Mos Def’s Casa Bey) aside, rapper Jay-Z really is reintroducing himself not through another album, concert tour or claim of retirement, but with the debut of a new book called Decoded, which he told CNN is “the story of an entire generation, but told through music.” (Jay-Z talks DJ Hero and The Blueprint 3.)
In the book Jigga Man describes his feelings on politics, President Obama, growing up poor and hip hop itself. He’s been known for doing that in the past, but this time its with the written word instead of a microphone flow. Here’s a short exerpt:
The worst thing about being poor in America isn’t the deprivation. In fact, I never associated Marcy with poverty when I was a kid. I just figured we lived in an apartment, that my brother and I shared a room and that we were close — whether we wanted to be or not — with our neighbors.
It wasn’t until sixth grade, at P.S. 168, when my teacher took us on a field trip to her house that I realized we were poor. I have no idea what my teacher’s intentions were — whether she was trying to inspire us or if she actually thought visiting her Manhattan brownstone with her view of Central Park qualified as a school trip. But that’s when it registered to me that my family didn’t have as much.