Jay-Z (1969-…) is the stage name of Shawn Corey Carter, a popular rap artist and songwriter. Jay-Z is also a successful music company executive and businessman. He took the name Jay-Z from the nickname “Jazzy” he acquired as a boy. As a performer and executive, Jay-Z became one of the most powerful figures in rap and hip-hop music and helped influence the direction of those musical styles in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. He has won a number of Grammy Awards for his music. In 2021, Jay-Z was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Jay-Z was born on Dec. 4, 1969, in the Brooklyn section of New York City and grew up in a housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. His father abandoned his family when Jay-Z was 12, and the boy became part of the street life of the area, later claiming he sold drugs as a teenager.
Jay-Z left high school without graduating and began a career as a rap artist in 1995. Because no record company would sign him, he formed Rock-A-Fella Records with partners Damon Dash and Kareem Burke. He issued his first recording on the label, Reasonable Doubt, in 1996. The album displayed the brilliant word play found in his best recordings.
Jay-Z’s other albums include In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997); Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life (1998); Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter (1999); The Blueprint (2001); The Black Album (2003); 4:44 (2017), and others. His hit songs include “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” released in 1998; “Big Pimpin” (2000); “Change the Game” (2001); “Song Cry” (2002); “99 Problems” (2004); and “Empire State of Mind” (2009). Some of his albums and hit songs have been collaborations with other musicians, including American performers Mary J. Blige , Sean Combs , R. Kelly, Alicia Keys , and Kanye West .
In 1999, Jay-Z helped found Rocawear, a clothing brand. He served as the president of Def Jam, a major rap record label, from 2004 to 2007. He also has co-owned the 40/40 Club sports bar, the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association, and a chain of luxury hotels. Jay-Z has become one of the most publicized figures in American popular music. He married the American singer Beyoncé in 2008 and is featured in some of her songs. The couple released their first joint album, Everything Is Love, in 2018. Jay-Z has written the memoir Decoded (2010).
Jay-Z and Beyoncé ‘s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, is also a singer and songwriter. In 2021, at age 9, Carter became the second youngest person to win a Grammy Award. She won for best music video for the single “Brown Skin Girl.” Carter received a writing credit for the song with her mother and other collaborators. Leah Peasall, of the country music trio the Peasall Sisters, was the youngest to win a Grammy Award in 2001, at the age of 8.
