Jay-Z: How I went from rags to riches

In his book “Decoded” the rapper reveals his rise from crack dealer to superstar

Jay-Z remembers the first time he heard someone rap. He was a kid walking through the Marcy Houses in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, where he grew up, and he stumbled on a circle of kids. When he peeked inside, he saw an older kid he hardly knew, acting like ladies in church touched “by the spirit” — rhyming couplets, as if possessed. It went on for more than half an hour and the young Jay-Z, a k a Shawn Carter, was entranced.

The young boy thought it was cool. His next thought: “I could do that,” he writes in his new book “Decoder,” an autobiography out Nov. 16 that interprets lyrics to 36 of his songs. The book is being released with a bang, with one of the most unusual marketing campaigns in recent memory. As part of the campaign, Jay-Z is releasing every single page to the public before the book hits store on November 16.
He addresses his past, including allegations of drug selling, stabbings, and life as a hustler during the crack-ravaged 80s. The book also deals with Jay-Z’s fractious relationships with assorted rap stars, including MC Hammer.

In the book he recounts being inspired by his mother, Gloria, who bought him a three-ring binder. He began to carry it everywhere, scribbling down rhymes about the things he saw and heard. Every night, he’d hide the notebook under his bed — to make sure no one ripped off his words. He read dictionaries in his spare time to increase his vocabulary, and before he was high school age he was taking part in rap battles in the Marcy projects, hoping to become known as “the best poet on the block.”

Jay-Z lived with his mother, a clerk at an investment firm, his father, Adnis Reeves, two older sisters and an older brother in apartment 5C in the Marcy Houses.

When Jay-Z was 11, his father left home for good. Soon after, the young boy — who was a good student at he various high schools he attended in Brooklyn, despite rarely studying — would drop out and start dealing crack.

Now, at 41, he’s one half of the richest entertainment couple in the world, along with his wife, Beyoncé, according to Forbes. The pair earned $122 million last year alone and Jay-Z’s total worth was $450 million in 2010. He’s had more No. 1 albums than Elvis, with 11 albums to his name and 10 Grammy awards. In “Decoder,” he writes for the first time how his training as a crack dealer and hustler helped him understand business and turned him into an artist telling the story of the street in rhyme.

Although he was starting to find his voice as a rapper, young Shawn didn’t have a story yet. But all that changed when crack hit the inner city. His neighbors became crackheads before his eyes. And Jay-Z started dealing to them.

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