Rap-Up.com || Jay-Z Unveils ‘Decoded’ Book Cover

Jay-Z is making his latest entrepreneurial move in the world of publishing, with the upcoming release of his first official book Decoded. Shawn Carter is teaming up with publisher Spiegel & Grau to release the tome, which provides insight into the lyrics and life of the man from Marcy Projects.

The book, boasting an inkblot from Andy Warhol’s Rorschach on its cover, tells the intimate stories behind 36 of Hov’s songs, with plans to release the book on November 16 as an eBook and an iPhone/iPad app that offers exclusive video and customizable content.

“When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted it to do three important things,” explained Jay-Z in a statement. “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.

“The second was 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. 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.”

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26 Comments

billy bob
September 22nd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
*waits for people to connect album cover to illumati*

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Mike
September 22nd, 2010 at 12:43 pm
^lmao! i came on the comments just to see if there were any illumaniti comments…smh ppl are so dumb

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i agree
September 22nd, 2010 at 12:43 pm
yup im waiting to…..lol

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Juninho Raymond
September 22nd, 2010 at 12:50 pm
A CAPA É ILUMINATI -N

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Infamous1
September 22nd, 2010 at 1:44 pm
lol… dat is the baphomet tho.

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Nick
September 22nd, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Who wants to bet 50 bucks this image is Satanic?

EVERYTHING Jay-Z does has something demonic about it. smh.

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mike
September 22nd, 2010 at 2:43 pm
^ you’re a dumbass

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Ysf
September 22nd, 2010 at 3:15 pm
@billy bob
exactly !! lmao !

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Sweetnam
September 22nd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Don’t Like It!

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Phoenix_Wright
September 22nd, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Billy Bob reads my mind =D

Jay-z already been doing big things and now he is making a book, that’s a good look.

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bass_man
September 22nd, 2010 at 3:54 pm
lmao @billybob

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bass_man
September 22nd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
omg, i looked hard enough, not thinking i’d find anything honestly, and you can see that head of that demon they always talk about. the baphomet one? idk if i’m spelling that right. took me like 10 seconds.

but, look in the upper center. it looks like a bull skull. it has those horn-looking blotches coming out of the sides. it’s under that first row of blotches. look at the center as one body and you can find it. smh. haha i did NOT think i would see anything.

MESS

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bass_man
September 22nd, 2010 at 4:07 pm
and still, i want to check out this book. haha it’s just a fresh concept. i’ll pull a “go to the bookstore and read it there, acting like i’m skimming” though.

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ponyo
September 22nd, 2010 at 4:09 pm
jay z is cashing in on people callin him illuminati.

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Tavo_RocZ
September 22nd, 2010 at 5:56 pm
You gotta have some rumor going around about you when you’re big, Jay-Z just got creative with it, lol

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pistol44
September 22nd, 2010 at 6:03 pm
lol add another to the list who’s waiting for someone to attack jigga on the illuminati ish

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Trey
September 22nd, 2010 at 11:50 pm
“Niggas couldn’t do nothing with me/They put the devil on me/I’d prefer if niggas would squeeze the metal on me.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z is one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time, stop letting white people diminish the image off our successful Black leaders. Jay-Z ain’t no fuckin devil worshipper. I’m sick of the the foolery!

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jakecun
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:47 am
@bass_man i see the baphomet too! illuminati.

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hownowbrowncow
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:26 am
What’s bad is that everybody is giving this illuminati thing too much credit for Jay-Zs success. The man is talented and smart and people act like Jay is trying to brainwash everyone into selling their soul. People are all too willing to give their souls away anyway for money. People admire Jay-Z because he makes that scrilla, not because he may be affiliated with some organization.

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Maya2012
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:59 pm
It’s a subliminal picture pattern. Jay Z would never place just a ‘random’ picture on the front of his book, there would have to be some meaning to that choice of picture.
Bare in mind, he could so easily have placed a picture of himself on the front cover, or a picture of his lyric’s.

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AMX
September 24th, 2010 at 3:39 am
nice job

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Mike
September 24th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
The image is from Andy Warhol’s Rorscharch collection. Dont know the meaning though despite the baphomet being pretty un subtle.

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Lexy
October 18th, 2010 at 8:09 am
I understand those three goals, and the first one to me from my perspective of thought is that he want readers to understand that not just his, but ALL of the great MCs lyrics is “poetry”. Stating that he’s not the only one with subliminals and signs, his goal was money, and success but all of the other necessities used to get there is the same strategy the same route that everyone took. So just leave him be, cause y’all buy it don’t y’all. Sex, money Violence Drugs. In almost every song now, but wat’s there is wat was.

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Cryptic key
October 19th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Nah people… Cnt u see that he is actualy warning us of wats going 2 hapen in the near future?

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Passa t.
November 21st, 2010 at 6:27 am
Ppl dats a sign of wat jay z want u 2 see. In 2012 we will have 2 choose where we want to go in life. The money we all spend will be used as a bargain chip 4 our souls…~@~…

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EJAY
April 8th, 2013 at 4:26 pm
HOPE IT AIN’T SO,BEEN FOLLOWING JIGGA SINCE ORIGINAL FLAVOR,ONE OF THE BEST TO EVER DO IT , IF IT IS A GIMMICK WHY USE THESE CERTAIN SYMBOLS AND AFFILIATE YOURSELF WITH

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