[Ed. Note: This was published in XXL's Dec/Jan 2012 Issue with the title "What's The Word?"]

More rappers than ever are turning to books to scratch their creative itch. A list of the 10 best ever

Words: Adam Fleischer, Jesse Gissen, Mark Lelinwalla, Jayson Rodriguez
Images: Socrates Gomez

These days, when rappers pull out a pen and a pad, or even get on the computer or their smart phones, it’s not certain they do so with the intent of writing a rhyme. More and more MCs are using their creative talents to turn a gift for words into literary works, instead of recorded tracks. Over the years, rhyme slingers from prodigy to C-Murder to 50 Cent to Jay Z have released their own tomes, ranging from memoirs to novels to guides behind their rhymes. Traditionally, only journalists, scholars and outsiders took aim at putting hip-hop in book form, but as the culture has expanded, more artists have cranked out material for the page, becoming players in the literary world. Most recently, Common, T.I. and Odd Future have released projects, with Nas’s coming down the pike. Here, XXL recaps the 10 best rapper-penned books of all time. Bookmark this.

LL Cool J Book
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I MAKE MY OWN RULES

Authors: LL Cool J and Karen Hunter

Release Date: September 15, 1998

First Line of Chapter 1: “It took four hours of labor, sweating and pacing.”

Already a rap legend by 1998 by 1998, LL Cool J turned heads with his brutally honest I Make My Own Rules (St. Martin’s Press), one of the first of its kind in hip-hop. The book is broken up into four parts, with LL’s “Spiritual Blackout” section drawing the most-heated reaction. He touches on everything from experimenting with cocaine and other drugs to being addicted to sex—at one point detailing sleeping with a pregnant groupie on a bathroom sink during the Panther tour in 1985, and shamelessly cutting off his kids and future wife for another woman in 1992. LL was later praised for sharing his ultrapersonal experiences, but it took some strong coaxing from co-author Karen Hunter to get James Todd Smith to reveal his indiscretions. “He was in a different space by the time we got around to doing the book,” Hunter says, noting that the rapper had recommitted to his relationship in 1994. “To tell your story is more about letting people know, This is where I come from, these are the things that happened to me, and this is how I got through them. Because nobody gets through to be where you are without some fi re. You gotta be pressed to become a diamond.”

Mase book
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REVELATIONS: THERE’S A LIGHT AFTER THE LIME

Authors: Ma$e and Karen Hunter

Release Date: September 16, 2003

First Line of Chapter 1: “Elder Gus, one of the preachers at the Salvation Deliverance Church on 116th Street in Harlem, was leading the altar call on this particular Sunday.”

It's tough to walk away at the height of professional success, but in 1999, Ma$e shocked his peers and fans alike when he announced he was leaving music. He had been through it all, while also releasing two albums, the multiplatinum Harlem World (1997) and Double Up (1999), before turning to the Lord and away from rap, a journey he detailed in Revelations: There’s a Light After the Lime (Atria Books). The book helped draw the distinction between Ma$e and Mason Betha. Then, in 2004, Pastor Betha unexpectedly returned to rap. “There was a moment in the book where he says, ‘If I ever go back to rap, then you will know that I have fallen,’ ”says co-author Karen Hunter. “I remember questioning him about that: ‘Are you sure you want to put this in the book?’ And he was sure. Then, several years later, he went back.”Still, after spending time with him, Hunter didn’t doubt the story they told in Revelations. “Going to his church, I can tell you that he was really committed to winning souls, spreading the word, just living a godly life.” Feels so good.

DMX book
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E.A.R.L.: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DMX

Authors: DMX and Smokey D. Fontaine

Release Date: October 21, 2003

First Line of Chapter 1: “My name is Earl Simmons.”

It was DMX’S passion and revealing honesty that helped the Ruff Ryder thrive as an artist in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and those same factors ensured that his book, E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX (Harper Collins), was as gripping as the emotional prayers heard on his albums. The autobiography focuses more on the man than on his music, with the Dark Man opening up about violence, imprisonment, familial neglect and building his family during his formative years. The unpredictability that has marked much of the Yonkers rapper’s career was, unsurprisingly, also present during the writing process. What ensued for co-author Smokey D. Fontaine was months on the road, hundreds of hours of tape and full immersion in DMX’s everyday life. “I carried a micro-cassette [recorder] in my pocket everywhere we went. Had my hand in my pocket. We’d be in conversation, whenever we started getting into it, I’d press record,” Fontaine says. “We never had one scheduled time to sit down and talk about his life. It was all fl y-on-the-wall. It was all completely organic.” Like X.

Wu Tang Book
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THE WU-TANG MANUAL

Authors: The RZA and Chris Norris

Release Date: January 4, 2005

First Line of Chapter 1: “And The Rza, he the sharpest motherfucker in the whole clan, he on point.”

Wu-Tang Clan's Abbot, The RZA, offered rap scholars a comprehensive introduction to his group’s world with his fi rst book, The Wu-Tang Manual (Penguin Group). The curriculum is broken up into four “Books,” each having nine sections, or “Chambers.” Book One familiarizes the reader with all of the Wu members, Book Two explains in detail the Clan’s varying influences (martial arts, Five Percenter ideology, mafi a culture, comic books, chess, etc.), Book Three breaks down several of the group’s biggest songs, and Book Four ventures into the signature musicality of the WTC. The guide was devoured by fans, with many followers bringing it to shows for Bobby Digital to sign in person. “The book was able to catch people from different walks,” The RZA says. “Some people respected the Christian part of the book; some people were able to relate to getting knowledge of self.” Manual was such a success that The RZA penned a follow-up, The Tao of Wu (2009), that focused more on his own spirituality. And he’s currently working on a third book, outlining the 36 principles that help steer his life.

50 Cent Book
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FROM PIECES TO WEIGHT

Authors: 50 Cent and Kris Ex

Release Date: August 9, 2005

First Line of Chapter 1: “I can remember when there was no such thing as crack.”

After the huge back-to-back success of his first two albums, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003) and The Massacre (2005), 50 Cent delivered his raw tale in the 2005 autobiography From Pieces to Weight (MTV Books/Pocket Books). The book takes readers on a journey through the rapper’s upbringing in Southside Jamaica, Queens, where he was entrenched in the drug game and was shot nine times, before becoming a rap star. The book would become a New York Times bestseller, but not before author Kris Ex fi gured out a way to tell the G-Unit captain’s story without identifying all his detractors and enemies. As in his music, especially songs like “Ghetto Qu’ran” and G-Unit’s “I’m So Hood,” 50 was unflinching as he named names. “He don’t care,” Kris Ex says. “He was just really, like, at that point, reporting what was happening in the hood with real people… And I wasn’t comfortable with that. We kind of compromised on that. I kept the spirit and energy of what happened but changed a lot of names [and] locations. He’s such a great storyteller, though, that I was able to take it and run with it and add onto it without necessarily having to make shit up.” What up, gangsta.

C Murder book
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DEATH AROUND THE CORNER

Author: C-Murder

Release Date: January 1, 2007

First Line of Chapter 1: “Macy!”

Most first-time authors say they traveled through hell and high water to get published, with all the edits, deadlines and pressure to produce. But for No Limit’s C-Murder, the process for writing his novel Death Around the Corner (Vibe Street Lit/Kensington Books) was much worse. “He wrote it while he was in jail, so he handwrote it in notebooks that he would mail out to someone that was typing it out for him,” says the book’s editor, Rob Kenner. “Then there was a hurricane thing that blew through New Orleans, if you recall. It wiped out the postal processing center where a bunch of his notebooks were, ’cause he was in jail during Katrina. So some of his notebooks were lost, and that was a tragedy. But he was able to get them back. They had this thing where you could go look for your lost mail. They had to dry the notes in the sun.” Despite the setback, C-Murder was able to complete the transcript, a trippy novel that was as gangsta as it was mystical. The plot centers around a fi ve-year-old kid who watches his father get taken away for murder and later turns to a life of crime, before omniscient voices begin to steer him clear. According to Kenner, the tome is a classic that didn’t get its just due because its author was behind bars. “It made me listen to his music with new ears and see how real his stuff is,” he said.

Eminem book
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WAY I AM

Authors: Eminem and Sacha Jenkins

Release Date: October 21, 2008

First Line of Chapter 1: “I knew I wanted to be a rapper when I was around 14.”

Eminem's extremely personal and beautifully illustrated memoir, The Way I Am (Penguin Group), was released to great fanfare and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Eminem’s Stans were rewarded with colorful pages filled with neverbefore-seen or rare personal photos, flyers from Em’s early days in the underground Detroit rap scene or other visual gems to accompany the rap legend’s endearing story. The book opens with a dedication to Em’s best friend, Proof, that speaks on their bond and Em’s loss with Proof’s murder. Most notable is the chapter “Ghost Trapped in a Beat,” which contains an assortment of paper on which Em jotted down some of his most famous rhymes. “The guy just would have all of his lyrics in a plastic bag stuff ed in there, like it was garbage, on some Beautiful Mind–type shit,” says co-author Sacha Jenkins. “A lot of the stuff is just ideas and lines that he later turned into something greater. If you really look at every nook and cranny, it’s pretty interesting to study how he puts things together. It’s pretty remarkable.” Cleaning out his closet.

50 Cent book 2
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THE 50TH LAW

Authors: 50 Cent and Robert Greene

Release Date: September 8, 2009

First Line of Chapter 1: “In the beginning, fear was a basic, simple emotion for the human animal.”

From his gritty upbringing to his epic spats with fellow rappers to his multimillion-dollar business ventures, 50 Cent has always been able to overcome obstacles and position himself for success. It’s that drive—taking on all challengers in his pursuit of power—that defines Fif’s third book, The 50th Law (Harper Collins). For the release, he teamed with Robert Greene, author of the celebrated The 48 Laws of Power, initially to craft a book full of Fif’s own axioms. “The first meeting was like a meeting of old friends,” says 50’s manager, Chris Lighty. “Greene thought about it, but after a few meetings believed we could make something interesting for the public, and from a different tactical angle. Robert is a genius, and 50 loves [Greene’s book], so it was a match made in heaven.” Full of philosophy and littered with quotes from Machiavelli, James Baldwin, 50 himself and more, the book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and proved to be yet another successful undertaking for the MC. “The book is published around the world, in a lot of different languages you wouldn’t expect. Like, in Turkey,” Lighty says. More money to put in Fif’s piggy bank.

Jay Z book
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DECODED

Authors: Jay Z and (an uncredited) Dream Hampton

Release Date: November 16, 2010

First Line of Chapter 1: “I saw the circle before I saw the kid in the middle.”

Jay Z earned the nickname One-Take Hov for being able to record complete songs in one shot. But for his New York Times bestseller, Decoded (Spiegel & Grau/Random House), Jigga didn’t hesitate punching in and out for months with changes. “He was completely—much more so than a lot of writers, much less talking about celebrity authors—obsessed with the book on a word-by-word, line-by-line basis,” says Decoded’s editor, Chris Jackson. “We were in Coachella doing it, we were in the Hamptons doing it, we were in his apartment doing it. We were constantly changing, or he would just call me out the blue and say, ‘We had a word here, and I think it should have been something else.’ ”The result is equal parts memoir and the ultimate guide to Hov’s mind, as he and co-writer Dream Hampton weave together the tidbits behind his rhymes with the circumstances that inspired songs, as well as breaking down the meaning of his lyrics. “It was intense, as an editorial process, but it was great that he cared so much,” Jackson says. Cashmere thoughts.

Prodigy book
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MY INFAMOUS LIFE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MOBB DEEP’S PRODIGY

Authors: Prodigy and Laura Checkoway

Release Date: April 19, 2011

First Line of Chapter 1: “Here’s a brief family history because, these are the pieces of my puzzle that are most important.”

With plenty of sex, drugs and violence, Prodigy’s memoir may be the most addictive pageturner of all the hip-hop books, and the most controversial. Predominantly handwritten while P served three years at New York’s Mid-State Correctional Facility, on a gun charge, in 2008, My Infamous Life (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster) tells the tale of P’s rise to fame, while offering a vivid snapshot of the New York hip-hop world during the 1990s. Filled with an abundance of previously unheard stories about many of the scene’s key players, Prodigy had plenty to say about his peers, including his complex relationships with Nas and P’s longtime Mobb Deep brother, Havoc. He even called out fellow Queens act Capone-NNoreaga, claiming that Capone was a police informant—an accusation that caused quite a stir upon the book’s release. But Laura Checkoway, the veteran hip-hop journalist who helped P write the book, says some of the more contentious tales were actually scrapped from the book: “We went through a really intense legal review where things had to be removed.”Just like a rapper

 

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