(He would drop the hyphen in 2013,and add it back in 2017.) He began freestyling and writing lyrics.Known as "Jazzy" around the neighborhood, Carter later adopted the showbiz/stage name "Jay-Z" in homage to his mentor Jaz-O. She bought him a boom box for his birthday, sparking his interest in music.
and Busta Rhymes, followed by a stint at Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, though he did not graduate.According to his interviews and lyrics, during this period he sold crack cocaineand was shot at three times.Īccording to his mother, Carter used to wake up his siblings at night banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table. He then attended the nearby George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School with future rappers The Notorious B.I.G. Jay-Z claims in his lyrics that in 1982 at age 12, he shot his older brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry.Along with future rapper AZ, Carter attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn until it was closed down. Reeves would later meet and reconcile with Jay-Z before dying in 2003. Shawn Carter was born in Brooklyn, New York and was raised in Marcy Houses, a housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.After their father, Adnis Reeves,abandoned the family, Shawn and his three siblings were raised by their mother, Gloria Carter. Rolling Stone ranked three of his albums-Reasonable Doubt (1996), The Blueprint (2001), and The Black Album (2003)-among The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.In 2017, Forbes estimated his net worth at $810 million, making him the second-richest hip hop artist in the U.S. He is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, having sold more than 100 million records, while receiving 21 Grammy Awards for his music.MTV ranked him the "Greatest MC of all time" in 2006. Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969),known professionally as JAY-Z,is an American rapper and businessman.