Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known by his stage name Jay-Z,[a] is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur.[8] Known for his involvement in the success of other artists,[9][10] he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023.[11] He served as the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007 before founding the entertainment company, Roc Nation the following year.[12]
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 to release his first two albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996) and In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997), both of which were met with critical acclaim. His following albums, including The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017) were each met with continued praise while debuting atop the Billboard 200; Jay-Z holds the record for the most number-one albums (14) of any solo artist on the chart.[13][14][15] He has also released the collaborative albums The Best of Both Worlds (2002) and Unfinished Business (2004) with singer R. Kelly,[16] Collision Course (2004) with Linkin Park, Watch the Throne (2011) with Kanye West, and Everything Is Love (2018) with his wife Beyoncé.[17] He peaked the Billboard Hot 100 on four occasions with his guest performances on the singles "Heartbreaker" by Mariah Carey, "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé, "Umbrella" by Rihanna, and his first to do so as a lead artist, "Empire State of Mind" (with Alicia Keys).[18]
Through his business ventures, Jay-Z became the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019.[19][20] In 1999, he co-founded the clothing retailer Rocawear[21] and later founded the 40/40 Club, a luxury bar chain, in 2003. As both grew into multi-million-dollar businesses, he launched 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.[22][23][24] As of 2024, he is the wealthiest musical artist in the world with a net worth of US$2.5 billion.[25]
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.[26] 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,[27][28] Jay-Z was the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame[29] 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.[8]
Early life and education
Shawn Corey Carter was born on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City.[30] He was raised in Marcy Houses, a public housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood.[31] His father, Adnis Reeves,[32] 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 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.[33][34]
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.[35] According to his interviews and lyrics, he sold crack cocaine[34] and was shot at three times during this period.[33] His former friend was sentenced to prison for possessing drugs and weapons.[36][37] Known as "Jazzy" around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name "Jay-Z" in homage to his mentor Jaz-O.[31][38]
Musical style
Influences
Jay-Z says his earliest exposure to music was through his parents' record collection, which was mostly of soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway. He says "I grew up around music, listening to all types of people... I'm into music that has soul in it, whether it be rap, R&B, pop music, whatever. As long as I can feel their soul through the wax, that's what I really listen to."[137] He often uses excerpts from these artists as samples in his work, particularly in the Kanye West productions included on The Blueprint.[137]
Rapping technique
Royce da 5'9" and Fredro Starr of Onyx both describe Jay-Z's emphasis on flow in the book How to Rap—Starr says that Jay-Z is "a master of the flow—he can flow fast, he can flow slow".[138] The book describes how Jay-Z uses 'rests' to provide structure to a verse[139] and how he uses 'partial linking' to add more rhymes to a verse.[140] Jay-Z's early style is described by Vibe as "a distinctly Das EFX-type, stiggety style" on his 12" single "Can't Get With That",[141] referring to the fast rhythms and vocal delivery of the group Das EFX. He is also known to write lyrics in his head, as described by Pusha T of Clipse in How to Rap,[142] a style popular with many MCs such as The Notorious B.I.G.,[142] Everlast,[143] Bobby Creekwater[144] and Guerilla Black.[144] Shock G of Digital Underground describes Jay-Z's live performance style, saying he "rarely breaks a sweat, and instead uses smoothness and clever wordplay to keep the audience interested and entertained".[145] Jay-Z's fast rapping technique, also known as the "triplet rhyme", was developed during his early years of creating music with former mentor Jaz-O.[146][147]
