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 creative and commercial success of numerous artists, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023. 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.
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. He has 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 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.
Through his business ventures, Jay-Z became the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019. In 1999, he founded Rocawear, a clothing retailer. In 2003, he founded 40/40 Club, a luxury bar chain. Both businesses grew to multi-million-dollar corporations, enabling him to launch Roc Nation, a multi-disciplinary entertainment agency in 2008. In 2015, he acquired the technology company Aspiro and led the expansion of Tidal, the company's media streaming service. As of , 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, 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. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013.
Early life and education
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. Reeves later met and reconciled with Jay-Z prior to his father's death in 2003. 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.
According to his mother, Jay-Z used to wake up his siblings at night banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table. She bought him a boombox for his birthday, sparking his interest in music, and he began freestyling and writing lyrics. Known as "Jazzy" around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name "Jay-Z" in homage to his mentor Jaz-O.
Career
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 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."