Jay-Z Biliography

The life and times of Shawn Carter.

The story of Shawn Carter is one of rags to riches, tragedy to triumph and one of the epic stories in rap history. Riddled with determination, struggle and controversy the story of Shawn carter is one that is unmatched. S. Carter, more well known as Jay-Z created most of his status which he has today by himself. His story begins from the projects of Brooklyn where he grew up, to his hustling times as a teenager. He loved Michael Jackson as a kid and he grew to express his feeling trough music. Shawn went trough many tragedies and he turned to music as his outlet of emotion. His lyrical expression is one that can be unmatched and what is led him to the top of the rap game. Jay-Z is known for his vocabulary and he says that is one of the key elements to his success.

Over the years Jay-Z has compiled a very large empire. From his 17millon albums sold world wide, to owning one of the premier record labels in the industry, having his own clothing line, his own club to party at and his own type of vodka known as Armadale (Premium two grain, triple distilled Scottish vodka ). The life of Shawn Carter has defiantly changed since his days living in the projects hustling for a living.

Shawn Carter was born on December 4th, 1969 at 10 pounds and 8 ounces, and he was the youngest of four children. Shawn was a very shy child growing up. When Shawn reached the age of five his family moved to the new Marcy Houses of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Though the projects were a tough neighborhood, his parents kept a close eye on him. Shaw always loved the spot light as a kid, he would put on Michael Jackson records and would dance and sing while his siblings and parents laughed until the early hours of the morning. Shawn’s life took a tragic turn at the age of eleven, when his father left him. Jay-Z states to this very day that of all the events that have occurred in his life, dealing with the leaving of his father was the hardest. Because of this Shawn turned to music during this tragic time in his life which he would continue to do throughout his life. His mom Gloria Carter saw that he was into music so much that she bough him his first boom box. “This was a way to keep Shawn close to me and out of trouble during these trying times. Although this used to drive his siblings nuts I knew it was a good decision” (Gloria Carter). With the passion of raping and singing in Shawn and the raw emotion felt by his father leaving him and his family, he began to write lyrics to express his emotions at the time. Soon Shawn was known as the best rapper in the projects of Brooklyn. He was soon after given the nick name “jazzy” which he then shortened to Jay-Z.

As Jay-Z’s local hype grew, his childhood friend and fellow rapper