Jay z who is he

It was then that Jay-Z announced his imminent retirement after the release of one more album. The subsequent year was a whirlwind for the retiring Jay-Z.

He embarked on a farewell tour that was topped off by an extravagant Madison Square Garden performance documented on the Fade to Black DVD, and he also embarked on an arena tour with the embattled R. With his reputation bigger than ever, Jay-Z accepted an offer to assume the role of president at Def Jam. The seminal rap label was struggling and needed someone to guide it through a rocky transitional phase.

Jay-Z accepted the challenge and took over the company begun by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin roughly 20 years earlier. Considerable fanfare met the presidential inauguration, as Jay-Z became one of the few African-American major-label executives in the business. Numerous rappers owned or operated their own boutique labels, but none had ever risen to such major-label heights. The rapper-turned-president didn't take his job lightly, either, at least judging by his initial year at the helm.

Within months of assuming his position, he fostered a string of newfound talents, including Young Jeezy and Rihanna. The ambitious show featured a parade of high-profile guest stars, including Diddy and Kanye West , and in a peacemaking move, Nas. With this longstanding beef squashed, Jay-Z announced he was coming out of retirement for good.

He made it official when Kingdom Come hit shelves. Jay-Z kept firing with American Gangster , inspired by the concurrent film of the same name. After he left Def Jam and established Roc Nation -- a label, music publisher, and talent agency through Live Nation -- he released a third installment in the Blueprint series, The Blueprint 3 Announced with the single "D. At various points during the next two years, Jay-Z and West , joined by numerous associates, worked on Watch the Throne The title track, which famously sampled its chorus from the Broadway musical Annie , became Jay-Z's most popular single to date.

He scored a Grammy win for Vol. During those years, the rapper released a slew of No. Jay-Z's most acclaimed album of this period was The Blueprint , which would later pop up on several music critics' lists of the best albums of the decade.

In , Jay-Z shocked the hip-hop world by releasing The Black Album and announcing that it would be his last solo record before retirement.

Asked to explain his sudden exit from rap, Jay-Z said that he once derived inspiration from trying to outshine other great MCs, but had simply gotten bored due to a lack of competition. I love that. But it ain't hot. In , Jay-Z ended his retirement from making music, releasing the new album Kingdom Come. He soon released two more albums: American Gangster in and Blueprint 3 in This trio of albums marked a significant departure from Jay-Z's earlier sound, incorporating stronger rock and soul influences in their production and offering lyrics that tackled such mature subjects as the response to Hurricane Katrina, Barack Obama 's election and the perils of fame and fortune.

Jay-Z noted he was trying to adapt his music to befit his own middle age. The effort earned a mixed reception from critics but otherwise fared well with fans, going on to top the Billboard and achieve double-platinum status. During his hiatus from rapping, Jay-Z turned his attention to the business side of music, becoming president of Def Jam Recordings.

As president of Def Jam, Jay-Z signed such popular acts as Rihanna and Ne-Yo, and helped West's transition from producer to a best-selling recording artist. But his reign at the venerable hip-hop label wasn't all smooth sailing; Jay-Z resigned as Def Jam's president in , complaining about the company's resistance to change from ineffectual business models. This super deal created a joint venture called Roc Nation, an entertainment company that handles nearly all aspects of its artists' careers.

Jay-Z's other business ventures include the popular urban clothing line Rocawear and Roc-a-Fella Films. A part-owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team since , Jay-Z helped spur the relocation of the franchise to a brand-new home in downtown Brooklyn, the Barclays Center, in In , he launched a full-service sports management company, Roc Nation Sports, and sold his Brooklyn Nets shares in order to pursue certification as a sports agent.

The business of Jay-Z made headlines once again in March , when he and several of his high-powered friends, including Madonna , Nicki Minaj and Jack White, announced the relaunch of Tidal, a streaming music service. His most popular songs from this period include "Can I Get A Jay-Z's most acclaimed album of this period was The Blueprint , which would later land on many music critics' lists of the best albums of the decade. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combat bootlegging.

Contrasting the radio-friendly sound of Jay-Z's previous work, The Blueprint features soul-based sampling and production handled primarily by Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Bink, as well as Timbaland, Trackmasters, and Eminem, who also contributes the album's sole guest feature.

At the time of the album's recording, Jay-Z was awaiting two criminal trials, one for gun possession and another for assault, and had become one of hip hop's most dissed artists, receiving insults from rappers such as Nas , Prodigy, and Jadakiss.

The album is also famous for both its producers Kanye West and Just Blaze's breakouts as major producers. West produced four of the thirteen tracks on the album, including the songs "Izzo H.

The Blueprint received universal acclaim from music critics, with praise being directed at Jay-Z's lyricism and the production. It is considered one of his best albums and has also been labeled as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Despite its release coinciding with the September 11 attacks, it sold over , copies in its opening week and debuted at number one in the US, holding the spot for three weeks.

In , the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In , Jay-Z shocked the hip-hop world by releasing The Black Album and announcing that it would be his last solo record before retirement.

Asked to explain his sudden exit from rap, Jay-Z said that he once derived inspiration from trying to outshine other great MCs, but had simply gotten bored due to a lack of competition. I love that. But it ain't hot. During his hiatus from rapping, Jay-Z turned his attention to the business side of music, becoming president of Def Jam Recordings. But his reign at the venerable hip-hop label wasn't all smooth sailing; Jay-Z resigned as Def Jam's president in , complaining about the company's resistance to change from ineffectual business models.

Jay-Z's other, ongoing business ventures include the popular urban clothing line Rocawear and Roc-A-Fella films. In , Jay-Z ended his retirement from making music, releasing the new album Kingdom Come. He soon released two more albums: American Gangster in and Blueprint 3 in His mother, Gloria Carter, worked as a clerk in an investment company. Jay-Z's father, Adnis Reeves, left when he was 12 years old. Jay-Z reconciled with his father in , six months before his father passed away from a liver ailment.

When Jay-Z was first starting out in the rap world, he was introduced to Damon "Dame" Dash, who, by the time he was 19, had already gotten record deals for two acts. For two years, the three worked unsuccessfully to obtain a record deal. The trio then decided to form their own record company, Roc-A-Fella Records, in which they would all serve as partners. Jay-Z's role was that of marquee artist, Dash ran the company's day-to-day operations, and Burke, according to Vibe , served as "a barometer of the streets.

The controversy started immediately. The single's title was not the language that even the most daring disc jockeys wanted to play. None of the stations contacted for this story advocate the use of the n-word over the air, but their solutions are varied: Some edit the word out; others substitute 'brother' or 'player. In some cases, the change altered the content enough to lose its intended impact and appeal. Despite the hardcore quality of his first album, as Shawnee Smith of Billboard , noted, it was Jay-Z who also began to transform the hip-hop scene from its hardcore "gangsta rap" to something that bears a more refined style—that of "Armani suits, alligator boots, Rolex watches, expensive cars, broads, and Cristal.

Jay-Z, Nelson said, "masterfully reinvented himself after receiving battle scars from his previous rhyme life. In addition to making music, Jay-Z was also interested in the corporate side of the business. Since , Jay-Z had been producing records for other artists as chief of operations for the Roc-A-Fella label. The same handle he had for money in the drug business translated well into the music industry. He talked about his future at that time: "Although my album has already gone gold, it will be my last one.

From this point, it's all about the business. Jay-Z told Vibe that he realized his music had a powerful effect on his fans. Like big, rough hoodlum, hardrock, three-time jail bidders with scars and gold teeth just breaking down. It was something to look at, like, I must be going somewhere people been wanting someone to go for a while.

In his best-selling Vol. Jay-Z used his stature as a hit-producing rap star to ensure that the rappers he wanted would be included on the tour.

At the outset, there were fears that violence would break out on the tour. The tour concluded without incident, however, and was a resounding success. A documentary crew joined the tour, filming the rappers as they performed, hung out backstage, and traveled in tour buses.

The resulting film, Backstage , was released in September of Some reviewers lamented that the documentary did not provide a complete picture of Roc-A-Fella's place in the rap world.

Although, Elvis Mitchell of the Contra Costa Times noted, hardcore fans are already familiar with the rivalries of the rap business. It just tosses the viewer into this musical experience, which will seem vital to some and depressing and repetitious to others. In , Jay-Z was preparing to release his fourth album.