And I need you to remember one thing

I came, I saw, I conquered

From record sales to sold-out concerts

Jay-Z – Encore

An asyndeton is defined as the writing style of leaving out several conjunctions from a sentence (such as “and” or “as”) or a group of related sentences and an example of this is “She spoke. She left.”

Throughout literature, we have seen the use of an asyndeton in numerous works such as Shakespeare’s Othello with “Rouse him. Make after him, Poison his delight, Proclaim him”, Aristotle’s Rhetoric with “This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you completely…” and Sophecles’ Oedipus at Colonus with “Without looking, without making a sound, without talking”.

The most famous Asyndeton in history however, is Julius Caesar’s “Veni, Vidi, Vici” literally translated to “I came, I saw, I conquered”. It comes from the Latin language and was used as an expression during a letter sent to the Roman senate after Caesar’s victory at the Battle of Zela. It was used many times after that and in different scenarios based on different scholars, however, it is generally used to express a quick, swift and conclusive victory regardless of what the opposition has come with.

During a concert, if a performance is repeated or added towards the end as a result of being called for by the audience, it is generally referred to as an encore. Jay-Z wants his audience to remember that he came, saw and conquered the industry, placing his name among the most successful artists of all time. He went through a tough upbringing, faced a lot of opposition but regardless of it all, he rose to the top with sold-out concerts and broken sales records to the point where he is ready for multiple encores during his concerts.

Have we came, seen and conquered our own battles?

#HoodIntellectuals