If your dark beautiful twisted fantasy is a couple of good hard cover editions with full-on institutional approval, then it is a season of thanks.
But in the case of one, The Anthology of Rap, it's getting ripped on all sides for its lyrical shortcomings. Generated by a couple of professors from Yale, The Anthology of Rap is getting slammed for its errors–it butchers several lyrics, sometimes even changing the meaning of them, as the street references continue to fly over their heads. Slate has been all over this, with the zealotry of a fundamentalist in its truth-seeking mission.
They sit down with Grandmaster Caz to discuss some mistakes, though Caz still supports the book.
Also, Spiegel & Grau has pushed out Jay-Z's Decoded, a nice 317 page $35 autobiography, with some detail about the transformation from Shawn Carter to Jay-Z to where he is now, though the Times points out a few omissions from Jay-Z's official record. But Jay-Z admits to shooting his brother.
And shocking no one except for this Toronto newspaper, Jay-Z admits he had fun dealing crack.
