Jay-Z music downloads

About Jay-Z

Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter on December 4, 1969, is an American rapper and entrepreneur. Raised in Brooklyn, Carter showed an interest in music at a young age. His neighborhood friends called him "Jazzy," which evolved into the stage name Jay-Z, a moniker he has used ever since. In the 1990s, when no major label would give him a contract, he and a couple of friends founded Roc-A-Fella Records. In 1996, he released his debut album, Reasonable Doubt. It was a modest commercial success, peaking at #23 on the Billboard 200, but it won critical acclaim from the press. The next year, he followed up his debut with In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, which featured collaborations by Foxy Brown, Puff Daddy (now Diddy), and BLACKstreet. It gave Jay-Z his first major commercial success, peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200.

For the remainder of the 1990s, and into the 2000s, he released a string of successful albums (Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life, Vol 3. : Life & Times of S.Carter, The Blueprint, The Blueprint 2), until he announced in 2003 his retirement, and releasing the aptly named The Black Album. His retirement was short lived, and just three years later in 2006, he released a new album, entitled Kingdom Come. Since then, he has continued to release hit albums, most recently with 2009's The Blueprint 3.

Jay_Z is also a business mogul. He started his own brand of clothing, entitled Rocawear, and is also part owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA team. He also co-owns the 40/40 bar in New York City, which also has bars in Atlantic City and Chicago. Jay-Z is also married to R&B star, Beyonce Knowles, having been married in 2008 in a private ceremony in New York.