Rapper Jay-Z, who made an appearance on The Late Show last night, was at Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue earlier today (Wed. Nov 17) to sign copies of his new book ‘Decoded‘.

The Jigga man says his book isn’t an auto-biography as most would assume. He explains in his own words:

“Decoded is first and foremost, a book of rhymes, which is ironic because I don’t actually write my rhymes–they come to me in my head and I record them. The book is packed with the stories from my life that are the foundation of my lyrics–stories about coming up in the streets of Brooklyn in the 80’s and 90’s, stories about becoming an artist and entrepreneur and discovering worlds that I never dreamed existed when I was a kid. But it always comes back to the rhymes.”

Jay-Z’s memoir is now in stores everywhere.