Jay-Z (Shawn Corey Carter)
1969-present · Contribution: 1996-present
Became one of the most commercially successful and influential rappers in history, with 14 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and 25 Grammy Awards, the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017 and the first living solo hip-hop artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, while building a business empire that made him hip-hop's first billionaire
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Impact on the world
Raised in Brooklyn's Marcy Projects, Carter co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994 to release his critically acclaimed 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt, launching a recording career built on dense wordplay and a recurring rags-to-riches narrative; subsequent albums including The Blueprint (2001) and The Black Album (2003) are regularly ranked among the greatest hip-hop records ever made, and The Blueprint was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2018. Beyond music, Carter built an extensive business portfolio spanning the Rocawear clothing line, the 40/40 Club, the Tidal streaming service, and Roc Nation, the entertainment and sports agency he founded in 2008 that now represents artists and athletes and helps produce the NFL's Super Bowl halftime shows, earning him two Primetime Emmy Awards; Forbes named him hip-hop's first billionaire in 2019. He co-founded the Shawn Carter Foundation with his mother in 2002 to fund college scholarships for students facing financial hardship, and co-founded REFORM Alliance, an organization advocating for probation and criminal justice reform.
Life & background
Born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the Marcy Houses housing project by his mother after his father left the family, Carter began recording music in the late 1980s as a protege of rapper Jaz-O. He continues to record, produce, and lead his business ventures, and is married to singer Beyoncé, with whom he has three children.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica; Songwriters Hall of Fame
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