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Jay Z
JAY Z
Rapper / CEO / Songwriter
Born: 1969 Brooklyn, NY
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Jay-Z, is an American hip hop artist and businessman. He is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. He co-owns The 40/40 Club and the New Jersey Nets.
He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having sold over 26 million units in the United States and receiving several Grammy Awards for his musical work.
Jay-Z's crowning achievement, his debut album Reasonable Doubt, is ranked by Rolling Stone as #248 on its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". MTV named him number one on their list of the greatest MCs of all time.
Originally from Marcy Houses housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Jay-Z was abandoned by his father and shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry when he was twelve years old. Jay-Z attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn, along with rapper AZ, until it was closed down. After that he attended George Westinghouse Information Technology High School in Downtown Brooklyn, with fellow rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes. Then onto Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, but he did not graduate. He claims to have been caught up in selling drugs, to which he refers to in his music
In his neighborhood, Carter was known as "Jazzy", a nickname that eventually developed into his stage name, "Jay-Z". The moniker is also an homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O (a.k.a. Jaz, Big Jaz), as well as to the J/Z subway lines that have a stop at Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn.
Carter married Beyoncé Knowles on April 4, 2008
Sourced from Wikipedia
Jay Z on Charlie Rose
