Jay-Z: Hard Knock Life

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man” - Diamonds from Sierra Leone

Jay-Z laid the blueprint (no pun intended) for success in the rap game. He is the first rapper to ever accumulate a net worth of one billion dollars. His rap career speaks for itself, selling countless albums and changing the culture of hip-hop on the east coast.

His business career speaks even louder, as he has placed himself on the top of the list of wealthiest rappers of all time, surpassing Sean Combs (Diddy).

Oh, and did I mention that he’s married to Beyoncé? Yeah, he’s doing alright.

Carter didn’t have anything handed to him. He grinded his way up the ladder in this industry and dealt with his share of adversity from a young age. This is the come-up story of the richest man in rap music.

Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, was born is a Brooklyn native born in 1969. Carter grew up in the Marcy projects, an area crawling with drugs and violence. At the age of 11 Shawn’s father, Adnes, left the family on their own and Jay-Z along with his three siblings were raised solely by their mother, Gloria Carter.

In many of Jay-Z’s songs, he raps about the struggles of growing up in the projects of Brooklyn. In his high school years Jay-Z was already selling drugs and riding around with rougher crowds. Jay-Z bounced from one high school to the next in the inner city of Brooklyn. At one point he was actually classmates with the legendary Christopher Wallace, known by many at the Notorious B.I.G.

After his time in high school, the drug dealing and violence only worsened for Carter. Like many other greats, he turned to hip-hop and songwriting as a way to escape the dark reality that he lived in.

In the late 1980’s, Carter teamed up with rapper Jaz-O, who mentored Jay-Z early in his career. They collaborated on a song titled, “The Originators,” which picked up some momentum and ultimately got them a spot on the TV program, Yo! MTV Raps.

Shawn officially got his rap alias, Jay-Z, as a result of the appearance on the program. There are multiple elements that went into the creation of his rap name. For one, he grew up under the nickname “Jazzy.” Second, he paid respect to his mentor Jaz-O by using his name as inspiration. Third, the subway line near Carter’s home was the J/Z station. It’s almost as if it were meant to be.

To Carter’s distaste, there was a long dry spell between his appearance on MTV and his rise to fame. He kept making music and selling drugs on the corner for roughly eight years before any momentum picked up.

It wasn’t until 1996 when Shawn and his two friends (Damon Dash and Kareem Burke) started up their own label in New York. This label is known as Roc-A-Fella Records, a witty play on words on the famous businessman, John D. Rockefeller and Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

In June of 1996, Jay-Z released his debut album, Reasonable Doubt. The album had features from all time greats such as Mary J. Blige and the Notorious B.I.G.; however, the album never reached any higher than no. 23 on the Billboard charts. Nonetheless, the album is now perceived as a classic piece of art and is what put Jay-Z on the map on a national stage.

Jay-Z bounced back two years later with his sophomore album, Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life (1998). This album went on to win a Grammy award later that year. Additionally, the title track, “Hard Knock Life” was also nominated for the award, despite not winning.

Jay-Z went on for the next half decade releasing singles and albums that were doing number on the charts. His success was an all time high and he was quite possibly the hottest rapper in the game. Which is why many were surprised when announced his retirement in 2003, after the release of The Black Album.

Fortunately for rap fans everywhere, Jay-Z couldn’t stay out of the rap game. He came back in 2006 with the release of his studio album, Kingdom Come. Between 2007 and 2009 he released two more albums, American Gangster and The Blueprint 3. All of which were critically acclaimed and sold numbers.

In the coming years after that, Jay-Z released a few more albums, including a fan favorite collaborative album with Kanye West, Watch the Throne. Today, Jay-Z has 13 studio albums under his belt, all of which have gone platinum, or higher.