I've been a Jay-Z fan for a while now, I own most albums by Jay and would consider him one of my favourite artists in hip-hop, so when I stumbled across this book, a possible in sight in to a man that has always seemed very closed and some what a mystery, you don't hear anything about his celebrity marriage with beyonce, a very high profile couple that did not become a tabloid story, the next posh & becks, I respect this man, he seems real. In my eyes it was a must read, so much so it was the first book I ever pre-ordered.
To start, a very well presented book. Even of you don't get round to reading it, the appearance of this book is striking, the gold design on a white back ground is, to play it down, eye catching.
Threw out the book, at the end of most chapters, Jay decodes lyrics, which gives good insight in to the style and influences on the man. Particularly enjoyable on the songs you know, as you pick up on things that you may have miss heard or not put thought into. The only down side of this is that at times it can be hard to read.
One thing to note is that it's a quick read, just over 300 pages but with lots of full colour, full page pictures that aid the reader into understanding.
As with any musician writing a biog he mention though out the book his influences on him and his music, this I found really entertaining, so much so that I'm re reading and taking names, as a means to understand the man more.
BUT, I felt this book lacked. We get a glimpse of the man but I want a good look. There is no talk of him marriage, I respect his privacy, but this is a biography after all so where's the life story. He recent opened up in an interview about how he once shot his brother, when I heard this I thought this might be some side marketing for the book but there was no mention of this in the book.
DONT GET ME WRONG, if you like jay you will like this book, maybe love it, but I want more. Maybe my mistake is I read a biography of Jay-Z and expected biography Shawn Carter.
