I originally decided to read Monuments Men as my IRB for the marking period, I actually have
been hooked on a book my cousin let me borrow titled Decoded. This book is actually a biography that explain how Shawn
Carter, aka Jay Z, prospered from a impoverished kid living in Brooklyn to the
famous celebrity we now know today as Jay Z.
Since the text is a biography and not an autobiography the
author needs to establish their sense of ethos due to the fact they are
retelling another’s life, however I believe they flex their knowledge in their
depth of knowledge about Jay Z within the first few pages of the text.
While the text is interesting and primarily focuses on the rhetorical
device of anecdote to stress the overall growth Jay Z has illustrated through
his not so easy life, there is another device Random House uses in order to
exhibit the man Jay Z truly is. Every few pages, there is a few lines of Jay Z’s
actual lyrics however to make things interesting the writers of Random House
decided to annotate those lyrics and show why Jay Z made them or even why he
came up with them.
The use of lyrics may seem elementary since the audience
will have some recollection of the song because they are most likely a Jay Z
fan reading about his life, but it is more complex with that. The addition of
the lyrics tie what the audience knows about Jay Z to the story of his life,
because for the most part most rappers rap about their lives and their
struggles to reach the fame and glory they desire. The familiarity of the
lyrics to most audience members is what actually makes the use of lyrics
successful in this biography because if the audience can tie what they know
about Shawn Carter’s music to the story of his life, they can now piece together
the life of Jay Z and reach the purpose of the text which is to highlight the
humble origins and rigorous journey of Jay Z.
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