With little fanfare, the central branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Library hosted the live simulcast of Jay-Z and Cornel West from the New York Public Library Monday evening. The small crowd of about 20 waited patiently in a fourth floor classroom. At the auditorium in New York, Paul Holdengräber, director of “Live from the NYPL” appeared to introduce the men of the hour. He declared the rapper’s new memoir, Decoded, as one of the “most extraordinary books I have read in the last decade.”

Like a boxing match, the men marched out to music. Their musical choices were an interesting allusion to the later discussed African-American generational divide ameliorated through song: West bopped to Marvin Gaye’s socially conscious “What’s Goin’ On” while Jay stepped out to his own, “The Ruler’s Back,” from The Blueprint.

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