Think about: Did Mick Jagger have that kind of influence over Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan? Did Frank Sinatra become the spokesperson for the Reagans?Įntertainment is a business, but the entertainers are not those that are setting policy or are role models held up for their kids. Jay Z fits the box, and he fits the code. It’s a safe example for white America to see black men doing this as opposed to running a business like I am or being Robert Smith of Vista. Unfortunately, we perpetuate it, because we as a community will hold them up as role models. That is how American society is comfortable defining black men. The discussion centered around the idea of black youth feeling the need to come from struggle or a life of crime to become successful. Donahue “Don” Peebles spoke with Nitecap with Peter Bailey about mainstream America’s perception of Jay. PAUL HOLDENGRÄBER is the Director of LIVE from the NYPL.(AllHipHop News) Jay Z, the drug dealer turned rapper turned businessman, has been both praised and criticized for his ascent to the 1%. His recent spoken word interludes were featured on Terence Blanchard's Choices, The Cornel West Theory's Second Rome and Raheem DeVaughn's Love & War: Masterpeace. He has made three spoken word albums including Never Forget, collaborating with Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One and the late Gerald Levert. Cornel West has appeared in many documentaries and films including Examined Life, Call & Response, Sidewalk and Stand. His books include Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He has taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard and has an M.A. He is the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University. He also addresses issues that informed him and his songwriting: * How did visual art and poetry influence his craft? * How did he get involved in politics when he never really trusted the system? * How did he stay honest to himself in the world of big business and how did he shed stereotypes when he'd been labeled one all his life?ĬORNEL WEST is a democratic intellectual. JAY-Z shares his thoughts on growing up as a hustler and feeling judged simply because of where he was from.
"I went straight-stopped selling drugs-but I also didn't accept the false choice between poverty and breaking the law." I was nine years old, the summer of 1978, and Marcy was my world."įor JAY-Z, lyrics aren't just about songs, they're about life, and in DECODED he brings his own story to life, writing about his journey from Brooklyn's notorious Marcy Projects to becoming a world-class artist, cultural icon, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. "I saw the circle before I saw the kid in the middle. JAY-Z describes the meanings behind some of his most provocative songs and provides a highly personal narrative of the culture that so powerfully shaped his life and art. And the third piece was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to."-JAY-Z, from DECODEDĭECODED is a narrative journey through the lyrics and life of one of the most prolific artists of our time. The second was that I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics-not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC-are poetry if you look at them closely enough. "When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted to do three important things. Jay-Z in conversation with Cornel West and Paul Holdengräber.
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