Jay-Z: “Rap is Poetry. It’s Thought Provoking”
Jay-Z shared his thoughts behind writing the book Decoded in a video interview. Jay-Z compared Biggie to Bob Dylan and Alfred Hitchcock and says that the lyrics rappers write should be regarded as poetry.
“I hope readers take away from this book that rap is…it’s poetry. It’s thought-provoking and there’s thought behind it and there’s great writing in rap as well. You never hear rapper being compared for like the greatest writers of all time. You hear Bob Dylan, but so is Biggie Smalls…”
Hov feels like the lyrics in rap songs have motivation and he points out the thinking behind a fun record like “Big Pimpin'” and states it has just as much depth as an introspective song like “Meet The Parents.”
“So I really just wanted to lay this out in a clear and concise way that people can look at it and say, ‘Ok, and if there’s thought and there’s intelligence and there’s reason and logic behind it, then maybe I can deal with everything like that.”
Peep the insightful interview.
