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Real Name- Shawn Corey Carter
Born- December 4, 1969 in Brooklyn New York.
He was raised in Brooklyn. Jay-Z was a school friend to the Notorious B.I.G. HE first started releasing records in the late 80's, part-financinf his music by hustling. In 1990, he appeared on the records by his close friend Jaz ("The Originators") and Original Flavor (" Can I Get Open"), and later scored an underground hit single with 1995's "In MY Lifetime." Drawing on Jaz's dealings with mercenary lables, Jay-Z set-up his own Roc-A-Fella imprint in 1996 with entrepreneur Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. His debut set, Reasonable Doubt, went on to achive gold sales and produced the US number 50 pop single " Aint No N****"/"Dead Presidents", featuring future rap star Foxy Brown. The album which reached US number 23 in July, attracted fans with a mixture of hard-hitting street Lyrics and rhymes epitomized by the collaboration with the Notorious B.I.G's murder, and debut at US number 3 in November 1997. Featuring guest appearances from Puff Daddy, Lil' Kim, Too Short, BLACKstreet, and DJ Premier.Jay-Z became a major star with the hit singles " Can I get A..." and "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)".
| Jay-Z's The Blue Print Cover. |  |
