jay-z Details

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), popularly known as Jay-Z, (or by a variety of stage names including S. Carter, Iceberg, Jigga, Jay-Hova, Hova, Hov, and Young Hov) is an american hip-hop artist and former president and CEO of Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella Records. He is regarded as one of the most prolific and successful American rappers of the mid-90s and early 2000s.
 
 Known for his use of metaphors, freestyling abilities, word play, flow, and blending of street and popular hip hop, Jay-Z became one of the most respected rappers in the music industry before his alleged retirement in 2004. He is admired for his ability to craft songs from memory without the use of pen and paper. He claims his critically acclaimed album The Blueprint was written in only three days. Some dispute this claim, but it is widely accepted by the hip-hop community.
 
 
 He is one of the founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, a hip-hop record label which also launched the careers of artists such as Beanie Sigel, Kanye West, Memphis Bleek, Young Gunz, Freeway, and Teairra Mari. As of 2005, he is estimated to be worth around $320 million.
 
 Early history
 
 Originally from the infamous Marcy Houses projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in brooklyn in New York City, Shawn Carter was abandoned by his father Adnes Reeves when he was only twelve years old and he was consequently raised by his mother Gloria Carter. Jay-Z attended George Westinghouse High School in Downtown Brooklyn and Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey but did not graduate. He claims to have been caught up in selling drugs on the streets of New York in the Marcy Projects. In addition to this, Jay-Z has lyrically alluded to having sold crack cocaine and marijuana in Virginia and Maryland.
 
 According to his mother, a young Jay-Z used to keep his siblings up at night banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table. Eventually, she bought him a boombox for his birthday and thus sparked his interest in music. He began freestyling, writing rhymes, and followed the music of many artists popular at the time.
 
 In his neighborhood, Carter was known as "Jazzy," a nickname which eventually developed into his stage name, "J