Jay-Z has said that his forthcoming memoirs will reveal more about him that his music.

The book, entitled Decoded, will trace the rapper's rise from Brooklyn's Marcy Projects to hip-hop super stardom.

Jay-Z told Rolling Stone he and close friends had been interviewed for the book, and that he was “learning a lot of things I didn't know as a child”.

He added: "It's not anything I haven't said in the past, in songs. It's just more detailed. A song is three minutes long.

“A book doesn't have to rhyme, and it has no time limit, so you can say exactly how everything went."

Decoded is due to be released on November 16.

(by Jason Gregory)