Jay-Z's Essay 'One Eye Open' By Yiyun Li

When people go through struggles especially at a young age, it can be hard to fully grasp how this experience shapes a person. In Jay-Z’s essay “One Eye Open,” hustling was his struggle and hip-hop is his attempt of understanding of that struggle. This transition can be understood using Yiyun Li’s essay “Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life,” the before concept in her essay can be compared to the hustling that Jay-Z went through and his account of that hustle using hip-hop. The after is what he wanted to achieve later in his after going through that struggle. Hip-hop is his way of writing to himself and understanding what really shaped him as a person so that he can “recreate” and “reimagine” himself, to attempt to get to the