Jay Z - Biography
To the admiration of a generation, Jay-Z led an incredibly storied career in the rap industry, pulling himself up by his bootstraps as a youth to one day become the reigning rapper
of New York City and then a major-label executive following his retirement from music-making. More than anyone, Jay-Z embodied the ultimate rags-to-riches rap dream, advancing from poverty to power, largely on behalf of his lyrical talent coupled with incredible dedication (while his industry smarts later propelled him to presidential status). Following the Brooklyn-born rapper-turned-president's 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt, his albums sold millions, and his endless parade of hits made him omnipresent on urban radio and video television. He retained a strongly devoted fan base -- not only the suburban MTV market but also the more fickle urban one as well -- and challenged whatever rivals attempted to oust him from atop the rap game, most notably Nas. As a result of his unchecked power, Jay-Z and his associates greatly influenced the industry and established many of the trends that pervaded during the late '90s and early 2000s. He worked with only the hottest producers of the moment (Clark Kent, DJ Premier, Teddy Riley, Trackmasters, Erick Sermon, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz) and if they weren't hot at the time, they surely would be afterward (Neptunes, Kanye West, Just Blaze). He similarly collaborated with the hottest rappers in the industry, everyone from East Coast rappers like the Notorious B.I.G. ("Brooklyn's Finest") and DMX ("Cash, Money, Hoes"), to the best rappers from the Dirty South (Ludacris, Missy Elliott) and the West Coast (Snoop Dogg, Too Short). Following his self-stated retirement from rapping, he assumed the presidency of the seminal rap label Def Jam and embarked on another phase in his illustrious career, that of an industry executive.
 Born and raised in the rough Marcy Projects of Brooklyn, NY, Jay-Z underwent some tough times after his father left his mother before the young rapper was even a teen. Without a man in the house, he became a self-supportive youth, turning to the streets, where he soon made a name for himself as a fledging rapper. Known as "Jazzy" in his neighborhood, he soon shortened his nickname to Jay-Z and did all he could to break into the rap game. Of course, as he vividly discusses in his lyrics, Jay-Z also became a street hustler at this time, doing what needed to be done to make money. For a while, he ran around with Jaz-O, aka Big Jaz, a small-time New York rapper with a record deal but few sales. From Jaz he learned how to navigate through the rap industry and what moves to make. He also participated in a forgotten group called Original Flavor for a short time. Jay-Z subsequently decided to make an untraditional decision and start his own label rather than sign with an established label like Jaz had done. Together with friends Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, he created Roc-a-Fella Records, a risky strategy for cutting out the middleman and making money for himself. Of course, he needed a quality distributor, and when he scored a deal with Priority Records (and then later Def Jam), Jay-Z finally had everything in place, including a debut album, Reasonable Doubt (1996)........
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