The album proved to be a triple hit, topping the rap, R&B and pop charts shortly after its August release. Jay-Z next teamed up with former Roc-A-Fella protégé Kanye West for 2011's Watch the Throne. "As more people come of age, hopefully the topics get broader and then the audience will stay around longer." "There's not a lot of people who have come of age in rap because it's only 30 years old," he said. Jay-Z noted he was trying to adapt his music to befit his own middle age. This trio of albums marked a significant departure from Jay-Z's earlier sound, incorporating stronger rock and soul influences in their production and offering lyrics that tackled such mature subjects as the response to Hurricane Katrina, Barack Obama's 2008 election and the perils of fame and fortune. He soon released two more albums: American Gangster in 2007 and Blueprint 3 in 2009. In 2006, Jay-Z ended his retirement from making music, releasing the new album Kingdom Come. "I love when someone makes a hot album and then you've got to make a hot album. Asked to explain his sudden exit from rap, Jay-Z said that he once derived inspiration from trying to outshine other great MCs, but had simply gotten bored due to a lack of competition.
In 2003, Jay-Z shocked the hip-hop world by releasing The Black Album and announcing that it would be his last solo record before retirement. Jay-Z's most acclaimed album of this period was The Blueprint (2001), which would later pop up on several music critics' lists of the best albums of the decade. His most popular songs from this period include "Big Pimpin'," "I Just Wanna Love U," "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" and "03 Bonnie & Clyde," a duet with future bride Beyoncé Knowles. Reasonable Doubt established Jay-Z as an emerging star in hip-hop.ĭuring those years, the rapper released a slew of No. Blige, and "Brooklyn's Finest," a collaboration with Notorious B.I.G. 23 on the Billboard 200, it is now considered a classic hip-hop album, including songs such as "Can't Knock the Hustle," featuring Mary J. In June of that year, Jay-Z released his debut album, Reasonable Doubt. It was at this point that Carter embraced the nickname Jay-Z, which was simultaneously an homage to Jaz-O, a play on Carter's childhood nickname of "Jazzy" and a reference to the J/Z subway station near his Brooklyn home.Įven with a stage name, Jay-Z remained relatively anonymous until he and two friends, Damon Dash and Kareem Burke, founded their own record label, Roc-a-Fella Records, in 1996. In 1989, he joined the rapper Jaz-O - an older performer who served as a kind of mentor - to record a song called "The Originators," which won the pair an appearance on an episode of Yo! MTV Raps. The young rapper was raised by his mother in Brooklyn's drug-infested Marcy Projects.Ĭarter turned to rap at a young age as an escape from the drugs, violence and poverty that surrounded him in the Marcy Projects. "He was the last of my four children," Jay-Z's mother, Gloria Carter, later recalled, "the only one who didn't give me any pain when I gave birth to him, and that's how I knew he was a special child." His father, Adnes Reeves, left the family when Jay-Z was only 11 years old.
Rapper Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. He wed popular singer and actress Beyoncé in 2008. After selling millions of records with his Roc-a-Fella label, Jay-Z created his own clothing line and founded an entertainment company. He used rap as an escape, appearing for the first time on Yo! MTV Raps in 1989. Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter and producer who grew up in Brooklyn's drug-infested Marcy Projects. In addition to his award-winning hip-hop albums, Jay-Z is known for an array of successful business interests, as well as his marriage to singer Beyoncé.
People complicate things.” “When you make music, you're constantly on the psychiatrist's couch, so to speak.” “I would rather lose on the side of hope than win on the side of the favorite.” If one of those things is off, it can stop you from becoming who you were meant to be.” “I've always said that if I became successful, I'd come back here, grab somebody, and show him how it can be done.” “It's harder for me to write music that everyone can relate to because I don't live a typical life anymore.” “Be true to yourself and keep things simple. I still do that now.” “There's the gift, there's the spirit, and there's the work-all three have to come together. “I never lost sense of who I was, not for a day, not before I had a record deal, and certainly not after.” “The day that Barack Obama became president, the gangsta became less relevant.” “Maybe I am old fashioned, but a record is a piece of music from start to finish and that’s what I set out to create.” “Performing or playing baseball and basketball took my mind out of my environment.