Analysis Of Decoded By Jay-Z

In “Decoded”, Jay-Z discusses his life in hip-hop. He connects his career to past artists and events in history. Jay-Z has become one of the most influential people in hip-hop. He has been a prominent figure for decades in music. Jay-Z’s influence on other artists has changed hip-hop’s history itself. The stories of his past, which he shares in “Decoded”, are a part of history because they all shaped his career and made hip-hop what it is today. In “Decoded”, Jay-Z shares a few moments that were not only important in hip-hop’s history, but also important to him. He grew up listening to hip-hop with his family, before it became a part of the mainstream. In 1981, he saw hip-hop culture on national television for the first time. It was …show more content…
B-boy groups would battle each other to show who the better dancers were and graffiti artists would battle for territory in their neighborhood. Since hip-hop was created, rap battles have been a key part of its culture and helped shape the music. Jay-Z talks about his drive to have the best rhymes of any of the kids from his neighborhood, who would battle with each other in cyphers. Lyrics about being better at rapping than others were noticeable in the battles Jay-Z would have in Marcy. The competition in hip-hop is what drove so many artists to becoming the best they could possibly be. Jay-Z discusses his battle with 50 Cent and Kanye West to sell more records. Having the drive to beat them, made him work harder to make the best record he could. His drive for competition also came from sports. Playing sports and then watching athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant showed him the benefits of working hard to become the best. Battling has been very important to hip-hop. The battle between the East and West Coast popularized hip-hop and brought it to American culture’s spotlight. Battling has been an important part of Jay-Z’s music and hip-hop’s history because it makes the artists put in everything they can to prove they are the