by Jay-Z
2. This is a song that metaphorically turns the concepts of Victory, Defeat, Death, Success, and History into personalities—the first four are women, the last an unborn child.
3. The song is autobiographical: Victory for me was being an artist, making my living as a rapper. But it was elusive: for years I couldn’t get a record deal.
4. In the metaphor, if I made love with Victory, the woman, we’d make History, the child; in real life, if I could become an artist, I’d have a chance to leave behind a legacy.
5. Here, Defeat, my mistress, is the most painful kind of failure, the near miss. That’s why Defeat is Victory’s sister, they’re close to each other, but also entirely different. That’s how it felt to me—I felt so close to my dream, but fell just short.
6. I was already in the routine: I was working hard for Victory and when I failed, I had to find the strength to start the pursuit again.
7. At the end of the first verse, I’m living with Defeat, which meant I was still hustling in the streets. I didn’t talk to other people about my dreams, I kept them to myself. But that didn’t make me any less desperate for them to come true.
8. I’ve taken another step away, beyond Defeat, Victory’s sister. Now I’m just like FUCK IT, living like a G, flirting with my new girl, Death.
9. A double-entendre: I was proactive, “headed to the street,”; but like a kid with acne who needs Proactiv, the skin medication, I couldn’t face my old girl, Victory. So the line combines the boldness of a kid taking his fate into his hands, with the sense of shame that same kid has—“I couldn’t face she”—for turning his back on his true dream.
10. Another new relationship enters: Success. This is what happens after the kid starts hustling. He finds “success,” money, girls, a reputation, a nice car. But it’s a cheap relationship and he knows it.
11. The two references to “V” point to the two competing ideas of happiness: one is about Victory, a prize that no one else has touched; the other is about having enough money to get a V, a car that I could afford from “burning down the block.”
12. Way back when I recorded “Streets Is Watching” I first made the point that if you let yourself get robbed, you’re as good as dead—when people see you’re soft, they’re coming in for the kill anyway.
13. Success—meaning winning on the block as a hustler—and Death and me are like three lovers.
14. Once I achieved the life of an artist, I never let it go.
15. The “stutter” is the baby, History, repeating itself. Victory is not just a matter of coming out with one hit, it’s about trying to build a true legacy.
16. The body of work you create is like the future of your past—it’s the thing that tells people who you were, even after you’re gone.
17. This is something we all think about sometimes. How will we be remembered? In this song, I’m talking about creating a legacy that will speak for me after I’m gone, that will tell my story after I’m dead.
18. My last will and testimony is the work I’ve done. It’s imperfect, but there’s no truer statement of who I am. The reason this book is ultimately about my lyrics, instead of being a typical autobiograpy, is that my creative work is my truest legacy, for better or worse.
19. This song, at its most basic, is about a hustler becoming a rapper. But I performed it at President Obama’s inauguration, and it worked there, too. Beyond the specifics of my story, it’s about a desire to get past defeat, to even get past the kind of success that leaves you feeling empty. It’s about not compromising your ultimate ambition, no matter how distant the dream might seem. Electing a black man named Barack Obama President in the same country that elected George W. Bush—twice!—is as far-fetched as a hustler from Marcy performing at that President’s inauguration. But it happened.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
How to use the DECODED eBook
Jay Z’s Introduction
List of Video
Part 1: One Eye Open
The Revolutionary T-Shirt
Public Service Announcement ( The Black Album )
American Dreamin’ ( American Gangster )
Early This Morning (unreleased)
Honor Among Predators
Coming of Age ( Reasonable Doubt )
Coming of Age (Da Sequel) ( Vol. 2 … Hard Knock Life )
D’Evils ( Reasonable Doubt )
Negative Space
99 Problems ( The Black Album )
Ignorant Shit ( American Gangster )
Part 2: I Will Not Lose
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Star
Most Kings (unreleased)
Success ( American Gangster )
Renegade ( The Blueprint )
Can I Live? ( Reasonable Doubt )
Balling and Falling
Fallin’ ( American Gangster )
Big Pimpin’ ( Vol. 3 … Life and Times of S. Carter )
Streets Is Watching ( In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 )
Beat the System Before It Beats You
Operation Corporate Takeover (Mix Tape Freestyle)
Moment of Clarity ( The Black Album )
A Stern Discipline
Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise) ( The Blueprint )
My 1st Song ( The Black Album )
Part 3: Politics as Usual
White America
Young Gifted and Black ( S. Carter Collection )
Hell Yeah (Pimp the System) ( Revolutionary But Gangsta )
Ears Wide Open
Beware (Jay-Z Remix) ( Beware )
Blue Magic ( American Gangster )
Cautionary Tales
This Life Forever ( Black Gangster )
Meet the Parents ( The Blueprint 2 : The Gift & the Curse )
Where I’m From ( In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 )
Funeral Parade
Minority Report ( Kingdom Come )
Dynasty (Intro) ( The Dynasty: Roc La Familia )
My President Is Black (unreleased)
Part 4: Come and Get Me
The Voice in Your Head Is Right
Regrets ( Reasonable Doubt )
This Can’t Be Life ( The Dynasty: Roc La Familia )
Soon You’ll Understand ( The Dynasty: Roc La Familia )
Instant Karma
Beach Chair ( Kingdom Come )
Lucifer ( The Black Album )
Our Life
December 4th ( The Black Album )
History (unreleased)
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Permissions Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Notes on Lyrics