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Jay Z was born to the name of Sean Corey Carter on December 4th, 1969. Since the release of his
quadruple-platinum "Vol II ... Hard knock life" he has sat on top of
the rap world as one of the most succesfull rappers in the game. With radio hits
like "Can
I Get a …," "Hard Knock Life," "Jigga What, Jigga
Who," "Money, Cash" the album catapulted this one time
underground star in the lives of mainstream America. However, things were not
always great in the life of Jay-Z. As a young man he found himself in a
vocational high school in Brooklyn where he met future stars Christopher Wallace
(Notorious BIG) and Trevor Smith (Busta Rymes). It was not until 1992 that
Jay-Z decided to leave the criminal world behind and focus on hip hop. He formed
Roc-A-Fella records with friend Damon Dash and released his debut album
Reasonable Doubt. It was a huge hit and earned him respect from other
established stars. The following year he negotiated a deal with def jam and
released his second album "In my lifetime Vol I " The album debuted at
Number two and went platinum. With the exponential growth rap music Jay-Z
decided to expand his style. With his contribution to JD's "Money ain't a
Thing" and tracks like Can I Get a …," "Hard Knock Life,"
and "Jigga What, Jigga Who" Jay-Z acheived mainstream appeal. On Oct
31 2001 he released his much anticipated fifth album "The Dynasty Roc
La-Familia" What Jay-Z has accomplished is mainstream success with out
alienating his original fan base. Needless to say this is a very rare
acomplishment.
