- Born
- Birth nameShawn Corey Carter
- Nicknames
- S-dot
- Young Hov
- Jazzy
- Hova
- Jigga
- J-Hova
- Jiggaman
- Iceberg Slim
- Lucky Lefty
- Jay
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Carter was a school friend of The Notorious B.I.G.. He first started releasing records in the late 1980s. In 1990, he appeared on records by his close friend, Jas ("The Originators") and Original Flavor ("Can I Get Open"), and later scored an underground hit single with 1995's "In My Lifetime". Drawing on Jaz's dealings with mercenary labels, Jay-Z set up his own Roc-A-Fella imprint in 1996 with entrepreneur 'Damon Dash' and 'Kareem 'Biggs' Burke'. His debut set, "Reasonable Doubt", which reached US number 23 in July, attracted fans with a mixture of hard-hitting street lyrics and rhymes, epitomized by the collaboration with The Notorious B.I.G. on "Brooklyn's Finest". The follow-up, "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1", was released in the aftermath of The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder, and debuted at US number 3 in November 1997. Featuring guest appearances from Sean 'Diddy' Combs (aka "Puff Daddy"), Lil' Kim, Too $hort, Blackstreet and DJ Premier, this sombre and intensely personal album included the stand-out tracks, "You Must Love Me" and "Where I'm From". Although in demand as a guest artist, Jay-Z found the time to write, produce, and direct the semi-autobiographical short, "Streets is Watching". The gold-selling soundtrack introduced several of Roc-A-Fella's rising stars, including Memphis Bleek, Rell and Diamonds N' Ruff, and featured the hit single, "It's Alright". Jay-Z then became a major star with the hit singles, "Can I Get A ... " and "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)", the latter built around a line from the musical, "Annie". One of the more bizarre samples to be used on a hip-hop track, the single nevertheless became an international hit (UK number 2, December 1998/US number 15, March 1999). The album of the same name featured hotshot producer Timbaland (aka "Timbaland"), in addition to the usual team of Ski and DJ Premier. Guest rappers included DMX, Foxy Brown and Too $hort, on a package that diluted Jay-Z's hard-hitting lyrical edge in an attempt to corner the crossover market. "Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life" easily succeeded in its aim, staying at US number 1 for five weeks, before finally being deposed by Alanis Morissette's new album. Despite a hectic schedule as a guest producer/writer and rapper, Jay-Z still found the time to enter the studio and record tracks for his new album. Released in December 1999, "Vol. 3: The Life and Times Of S. Carter" confirmed his status as one of hip-hop's most popular artists when it topped the album charts the following month. The following year's "The Dynasty: Roc La Familia 2000", another US chart-topper, was originally planned as a supergroup collaboration with fellow Roc-A-Fella rappers Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek and Amil.- IMDb Mini Biography By: J.M.
- SpouseBeyoncé(April 4, 2008 - present) (3 children)
- Children
- ParentsGloria CarterAdnis Reeves
- Is good friends with Eminem. They have worked together three times since 2003.
- Since his album "Hard Knock Life/Volume 2", every Jay-Z solo album has gone at least double platinum.
- His album, "The Black Album", was supposed to be his last.
- Is part owner of the Nets basketball team.
- I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man.
- I come from the Marcy projects, in Brooklyn, which is considered a tough place to grow up, but this [showed me] how good we have it. The rappers who say, 'We're from the 'hood,' take it from me, you're not from the 'hood. You haven't seen people with no access to water. It really put things in perspective. - [His thoughts regarding trip taken to Africa in 2006 on his first world tour, where he discovered that 1.1 billion people don't have clean drinking water.]
- [on his marriage to Beyoncé]This is my real life. I just ran into this place and we built this big beautiful mansion of a relationship that wasn't totally built on the 100 percent truth and it starts cracking. Things start happening that the public can see.Then we had to get to a point of, Okay, tear this down and let's start from the beginning.It's the hardest thing I've ever done.
- [on why he played 4:44, his new album for Beyoncé before anyone else]We just got to a place where, in order for this to work, this can't be fake. Not one ounce. I'm not saying it wasn't uncomfortable because obviously it was.
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