Jay-Z

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur.

Known for his involvement in the success of other artists, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023.

Shawn Corey Carter was born on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City.

He was raised in Marcy Houses, a public housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood.

His father, Adnis Reeves, abandoned the family, and Jay-Z and his three older siblings were raised by his mother, Gloria Carter.

Born and raised in New York City, Jay-Z began his musical career in the late 1980s; he co-founded the record label Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994 and released his debut studio album Reasonable Doubt in 1996, which was met with critical praise.

Jay-Z can be briefly heard on several of Jaz-O's early recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including "H. P. Gets Busy", "The Originators" and "Hawaiian Sophie".

Jay-Z claims in his lyrics that in 1982, at age 12, he shot his older brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry.

He attended Eli Whitney High School and George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, both in Brooklyn, and then Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey.

He did not graduate, dropping out during his sophomore year at Trenton Central High School.

According to his interviews and lyrics, he sold crack cocaine and was shot at three times during this period.

His former friend was sentenced to prison for possessing drugs and weapons.

Known as "Jazzy" around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name "Jay-Z" in homage to his mentor Jaz-O.

Jay-Z became embroiled in several battles with rapper LL Cool J in the early 1990s.

He first became known to a wide audience on the posse cut "Show and Prove" on the 1994 Big Daddy Kane album Daddy's Home. Jay-Z has been referred to as Big Daddy Kane's hype man during this period, although Kane explains that he did not fill the traditional hype man role, and was instead basically making cameo appearances on stage.

"When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage."

Jay-Z appeared on a popular song by Big L, "Da Graveyard", and on Mic Geronimo's "Time to Build", which also featured early appearances by his former Murder Inc. colleagues Ja Rule and DMX in 1995.

His first official rap single was "In My Lifetime", which was released with an accompanying music video in 1995.

An unreleased music video was also produced for the B-side "I Can't Get with That."

With no major label to give him a record deal, Jay-Z sold burned CDs out of his car, and with Damon "Dame" Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, created Roc-A-Fella Records as an independent label in 1995.

After striking a distribution deal with Priority, Jay-Z released his 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt with beats from acclaimed producers such as DJ Premier and Super DJ Clark Kent and an appearance by The Notorious B.I.G. The album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200, and was generally favored by critics.

This album would later be included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as No. 248 and eventually reach platinum status.

In 1999, he founded Rocawear, a clothing retailer.

He went on to release twelve additional albums to further critical acclaim and commercial success, including The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017).

He released the collaborative albums The Best of Both Worlds and Unfinished Business with singer R. Kelly in 2002 and 2004, Collision Course with Linkin Park in 2004, Watch the Throne with Kanye West in 2011, and Everything Is Love with his wife Beyoncé in 2018.

Jay-Z holds the record for the most number-one albums (14) of any solo artist on the Billboard 200.

His collaborations with other artists have yielded the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "Heartbreaker", "Crazy in Love", "Umbrella" and "Empire State of Mind".

In 2003, he founded 40/40 Club, a luxury bar chain.

Reeves later met and reconciled with Jay-Z prior to his death in 2003.

According to his second verse on "99 Problems", released in 2003, Jay-Z was allegedly stopped by an NYPD detective in 1994 while en route to I-95, possibly for a search of drugs in his car.

Detection dogs were called, but another police car had passed; Jay-Z was let go soon after.

He is the founder and chairman of entertainment company Roc Nation, and was the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007.

Both businesses grew to multi-million-dollar corporations, enabling him to launch Roc Nation, a multi-disciplinary entertainment agency in 2008.

Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013.

In 2015, he acquired the technology company Aspiro and led the expansion of Tidal, the company's media streaming service.

As of 2024, he is the wealthiest musical artist in the world with a net worth of US$2.5 billion.

One of the world's best-selling music artists with 140 million records sold, Jay-Z has won 24 Grammy Awards, the tenth-most of all time and most awarded for any hip hop artist jointly with Kanye West.

He has been awarded the NAACP's President's Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Sports Emmy Award, and been nominated for a Tony Award.

Ranked by Billboard and Rolling Stone as one of the 100 greatest artists of all time, Jay-Z was the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the first solo living rapper inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Through his business ventures, Jay-Z became the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019.