Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter, known by his stage name Jay Z, is an American rapper, entrepreneur and investor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists in America. In 2014, Forbes estimated Jay Z's net worth at nearly $520 million. He is one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records, while receiving 21 Grammy Awards for his musical work, and numerous additional nominations. Consistently ranked as one of the greatest...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRapper
Date of Birth4 December 1969
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
The average rap life is two or three albums. You're lucky to get to your second album in rap!
I spring train in the winter, around early December...
I couldn't even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldn't let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn't stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of keeping sane.
And through our travels we get separated, never forget: In order to survive, got to learn to live with regrets.
Well I'm not just gon' go and do rap songs. I wanna touch, and maybe help, and see what I can do in these areas.' As I start looking around me, looking at things in ways that I can become helpful, starting at the first thing, water. Something as simple as water.
One of the reasons inequality gets so deep in this country is that everyone wants to be rich. That's the American ideal. Poor people don't like talking about poverty because even though they might live in the projects surrounded by other poor people and have, like, ten dollars in the bank, they don't like to think of themselves as poor.
Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry. I'm a man who writes poetry. Why not compare yourself to the best?
I use a lot of double meanings. I hide 'em like Easter eggs.
It was a weird mix of emotions. One day, your best friend could be killed. The day before, you could be celebrating him getting a brand-new bike.
How could I be out there and not do anything?
Growing up, politics never trickled down to the areas we come from. But people from Obama's camp, and Obama himself, reached out to me and asked for my help on the campaign. We've sat and had dinner, and we've spoken on the phone. He's a very sharp guy. Very charming. Very cool.
When you listen to an album, it shouldn't feel like, "That's the girl song," "That's the club song." I shouldn't know what you're thinking while you're making the song. I don't want to know what the artist is thinking.
The burden of poverty isn't just that you don't always have the things you need, it's the feeling of being embarrassed every day of your life, and you'd do anything to lift that burden.
My tears is tatted, my rag in my pocket / Im just looking for love, I know somebody got it