Born on April 12, 1969, Jay-Z was raised by a single mother, Gloria Carter. He had experienced the tough life on the streets of New York where he grew up. Fortunately, the streets life was not the only thing on his mind as he briefly attended high school in where he also explored his rap skill. Alongside partners from his early group "Original Flavor", Jay-Z, Damon 'Dame' Dash and Kareem 'Biggs' Burke co-founded an independent label called Roc-a-Fella Records. Later, Roc-a-Fella folding into Def Jam Recordings.
Jay-Z may be considered as a person who could do almost everything. Began his career as a rapper and a businessman, he now holding an important president and CEO position on Def Jam. "I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was ...
** Jay-Z biography continues Below ** ** Jay-Z biography continues now** so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company," says Jay-Z.
As an artist, Jay-Z has sold more than 18 million albums worldwide. Started from his debut album "Reasonable Doubt" (1996) up to the latest one alongside nu-metal band Linkin Park "Collision Course" (2004), Jay-Z has collected many prestigious awards, including the 2004 BET Award for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist, for his achievement in music history.
Aware of the hard days and the success that he had been through, which surely an interesting diary to be read by his fanatics, Jay-Z published his autobiography entitled "The Black Book" along with the release of "The Black Album" (2003).
Despite his victorious career in