Jay-Z

**Shawn Corey Carter** (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as **Jay-Z**, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. *Billboard* and *Vibe* listed him as the greatest rapper of all time. He has been central to the creative and commercial success of artists including Kanye West, Rihanna, and J. Cole. 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 1995 and released his debut studio album *Reasonable Doubt* in 1996, which was met with critical praise. He has gone on to release twelve additional albums, including *The Blueprint* (2001), *The Black Album* (2003), *American Gangster* (2007), and *4:44* (2017). He released the collaborative album *Watch the Throne* with Kanye West in 2011 and *Everything Is Love* with his wife Beyoncé in 2018.

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, permitting him to launch Roc Nation in 2008. In 2015, he acquired the tech company Aspiro and led Tidal, the company's media streaming service. In 2020, he launched Monogram, which sells a line of cannabis products. As of 2023, he is the wealthiest musical artist in the world with a net worth of US$2.5 billion, according to CNBC.

One of the world's best-selling music artists with over 140 million records sold, Jay-Z has won 24 Grammy Awards, jointly with Kanye West the most Grammy awards of any rapper. Jay-Z holds the record for the most number-one albums (14) of any solo artist on the *Billboard* 200. 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. In 2013, *Time* included him on its list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World".

### Early Life

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.