Jay-Z claims in his lyrics that in 1982, at age 12, he shot his older brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry. Reeves would later meet and reconcile with Jay-Z shortly before dying in 2003. After their father, Adnis Reeves, abandoned the family, Jay-Z and his three siblings were raised by their mother, Gloria Carter. He was raised in Marcy Houses, a housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. Jay-Z was born as Shawn Corey Carter in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on 4 December 1969. Jay-Z (top) with a friend in Trenton, New Jersey, c. Ranked by Billboard and Rolling Stone as one of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Jay-Z was the first rapper honored in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the first solo living rapper inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One of the world's best-selling music artists, with over 125 million records sold, Jay-Z has won 23 Grammy Awards, the most by a rapper, and holds the record for the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 (14).

In 2020, he launched 'Monogram', a line of cannabis products.

In 2015, he acquired the tech company Aspiro and took charge of their media streaming service Tidal. Both businesses have grown to become multi-million-dollar corporations, and allowed him to start-up the entertainment company Roc Nation in 2008. In 1999, he founded the clothing retailer Rocawear, and in 2003, he founded the luxury sports bar chain 40/40 Club. Ī billionaire, Jay-Z has attained significant success and media attention for his career as a businessman. He also released the full-length collaborative albums Watch the Throne (2011) with Kanye West and Everything Is Love (2018) with his wife Beyoncé, respectively. He went on to release twelve additional albums, including the acclaimed albums The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017). The album was released to widespread critical success, and solidified his standing in the music industry.

īorn and raised in New York City, Jay-Z first 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. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop artists in history and is also well known for being the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings, cultivating major industry artists such as Kanye West, Rihanna, and J. Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z (stylized as JAY-Z), is an American rapper, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur, and media proprietor.

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