The Times’ notoriously tough book critic gives Hova’s book a rave in today’s paper: “Decoded is a compelling puzzlelike collage … that places rap in a social and political context … and underscores how the pressures of Jay-Z’s former life as a dealer honed his gifts as a writer, including a survivor’s sense of character, an observer’s eye for detail and a hustler’s penchant for wordplay.†And it even made her look closer at Jay’s lyrics on the whole: “Decoded highlights the richly layered, metaphoric nature of the author’s own rhymes (even those about guns and girls and bling often turn out to have hidden meanings, stashed like ‘Easter eggs’ in the weeds).†Wow. He has truly won over everyone now. [NYT via NYO]