Jay Z
He is worth over 500 million dollars. He is married to
R&B star Beyonce Knowles. He has received ten Grammy Awards over the course
of his career, has had more US number one albums than any other solo artist
(selling a cool 40 million worldwide), and part-owns the New Jersey Nets
basketball team. MTV hailed him as the ‘Greatest MC of All Time’. Could life
get any better for Jay Z?
Born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4th 1969 in the projects of Brooklyn, Jay Z didn’t always have it as good as he does now. Abandoned by his father before he had hit his teens, Jay Z failed to graduate from high school, and dabbled in the murky world of crack cocaine dealing before his musical career finally took off. Starting as many rappers do by freestyling and competing in rap battles, Jay initially struggled to get himself a record deal, despite working with the likes of Big Daddy Kane, Big L, and Mic Geronimo. However, rather than give up, curse his luck and feel sorry for himself, Jay tapped into an entrepreneurial determination that would eventually make him one of the most influential producers in American music. Banding together with his friends Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs, he founded independent label Roc-A-Fella Records in order to get his music recorded. After sealing a distribution deal, he released his first album ‘Reasonable Doubt’ in 1996 – a record that, despite an initially modest Billboard charting, was well received by music critics, and would go on to be recognised by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’.
Following this success, Jay Z was snapped up by Def Jam in 1997 – a label he would go on to run as president in 2004. A prolific writer and producer, Jay released an album each year between 1997 and 2003, when he held a ‘retirement party’ concert in Madison Square Garden. However, he was not quite finished yet. Apart from working as a producer for other Def Jam artists, Jay Z collaborated with Linkin Park the following year, and continued to play sell-out concerts to his legion of devoted fans. His ‘retirement’ proved to be a short lived affair, as he released comeback album ‘Kingdom Come’ in late 2006, and has released a further two albums since.
After parting company with Def Jam records in 2009 – a year in which he became the first hip hop act ever to headline at the UK Glastonbury festival – Jay Z started Roc Nation, his own recording, publishing and talent management company. He has also recently tried his hand at producing Broadways shows, collaborating with the likes of Will Smith, and has his own clothing line in Rocawear. It seems the only thing that Jay Z is yet to do is run for president…. but given his career so far, that can’t be too far away, can it?
