Shawn Corey Carter born December 4, , known professionally as Jay-Z , [ a ] is an American rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop , he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in He served as president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from to , and founded the entertainment company Roc Nation the following year.
Each of his eleven subsequent albums, including The Blueprint , The Black Album , American Gangster , and , debuted atop the Billboard ; Jay-Z holds the joint-record for the most number-one albums 14 of any solo artist on the chart tied with Drake and Taylor Swift. Through his business ventures, Jay-Z became the first hip-hop billionaire in As both grew into multi-million-dollar businesses, he launched Roc Nation, a multi-disciplinary entertainment agency in In , he acquired the technology company Aspiro and led the expansion of Tidal , the company's media streaming service.
One of the world's best-selling music artists with million records sold, Jay-Z has won 25 Grammy Awards , the tenth-most of all time and the most awarded for any hip hop artist. Ranked by Billboard and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest artists of all time, [ 25 ] [ 26 ] Jay-Z was the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame [ 27 ] and the first solo living rapper inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Time named him one of the most influential people in the world in Reeves later met and reconciled with Jay-Z prior to his death in He did not graduate, dropping out during his sophomore year at Trenton Central High School.
Jay-Z can be briefly heard on several of Jaz-O's early recordings in the late s and early s, including " H. While working on the album Word to the Jaz in London in , Jay-Z and Gotti began to build their relationship on the trip. Jay-Z has been referred to as Big Daddy Kane's hype man during this period, [ 46 ] although Kane explains that he did not fill the traditional hype man role, and was instead basically making cameo appearances on stage.
