How is jay z

On June 18, the project was confirmed to be a new Jay-Z album, and a clip featuring a song titled "Adnis" was posted on Sprint's YouTube page. The album is the first in a planned series of music exclusives from the Sprint—Tidal partnership.

For a short time, on July 2, the album was made available for free digital download in Tidal's site. A physical edition was released on July 7, including three additional tracks. The album received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its emotional and personal content.

It debuted at number one on the U. Billboard , making it Jay-Z's 13th consecutive studio album to top the chart. The album spawned two singles, the title track "" and "Bam", as well as several music videos, directed by a variety of high-profile collaborators. Ten days later, at their final London performance, the pair unveiled Everything Is Love, their much-awaited joint studio album, credited under the name The Carters.

He also appeared on the song "Jail" on Kanye West 's album, Donda. See More of the 90's Artists Collection. Claim your bio by clicking the button above and let us know how we can work with you to update your digital bio. The history of hip hop culture and music. Take the journey through the 's with Tupac, the Notorious B. Diddy, Ruff Ryders,. The Journey. Tupac Shakur Biography. Notorious B. Wu-Tang Clan Biography. Commercialization of Hip Hop.

Hip Hop in Education. Hip-Hop Bio: "I never lost sense of who I was, not for a day, not before I had a record deal, and certainly not after. 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.

Follow Jay-Z on Social Media:. Jay-z's featured blog post. Hip Hop Scriptures Blog. Cart 0. I felt I was in a survival of the fittest situation. It was only gradually that he became aware of the consequences of selling drugs.

First it was a joke, then as you get older you start to think, man, that really is decay in her body. There are many Debbies. And you still justify it, because that's how you make your money and you don't want to stop. You say, man, she making her own choice.

Through his 14 years on the streets, he never touched crack. He says there was a strict code among successful hustlers, and quotes me a line from the film Scarface : don't get high on your own supply. I never wanted that. I saw what it was doing to the community. That's not to say he didn't get into trouble. At 12, he shot his older brother Eric in the shoulder for stealing his ring. Jay-Z has written about the incident in the song You Must Love Me "Saw the devil in your eyes, high off more than weed, confused, I just closed my young eyes and squeezed, what a sound, opened my eyes just in time to see ya stumbling to the ground" but he has never publicly talked about it before.

How did he get the gun? Guns were everywhere. You didn't have to go far to get one. Just everywhere. After the shooting, what did he think would happen to him? I thought I'd go to jail for ever. And what did happen? He has become monosyllabic. His discomfort is obvious.

Did Eric simply not press charges? It's an astonishing story, I say. It was terrible. I was a boy, a child. I was terrified. Eric is clean these days, and the brothers get on. Was that the only time he shot someone? But guns were around every day. There were shoot-outs, but I never shot anyone else.

Most people in shoot-outs don't get shot. He knows just how lucky he was when he was hustling. He was shot at three times and each time the bullet missed. Have things changed in Brooklyn since then? I was in Miami the other day and there was this sweep of year-olds. It showed the weaponry they had — AKs, military weapons in the hands of these kids.

He says he'll have a salad, and looks at me. So if you take away guns, then what about knives or rocks? You gotta correct the problem, not the tool. Our salads arrive — olives, chickpeas, crispy greens.

As with all things Jay-Z, it's top quality — the crispiest lettuce money can buy. The chair I'm sitting on is the comfiest but not flashest I've ever sat on. He tells me more than once how important quality is to him. On the table in front of us are a number of elite magazines, all featuring Jay-Z on the front.

He's got an unusual face for an idol: big puffy cheeks, pixie ears, fatherly and kind. There are a few stray hairs above his lip. Somehow, you'd expect him to be a more meticulous shaver. Today, he's dressed in casuals. On the cover of Forbes he is in a sober blue suit, every inch the businessman. He points me to the feature on him and Buffett. It's obviously tickled him that comparisons are being made. Who's wealthier? He's a multi-billionaire. In his memoir, he paints a vivid picture of life as a hustler.

He makes it sound surprisingly appealing, I say. Then you have the camaraderie and the love. Those guys are with you. You're all in there together, fighting for the same thing. All the time he was dealing, he dreamed of a career as a rapper. But it was never going to be easy to make a clean break. The problem was, he could never hope to make as much money from rapping. We'd be like, aren't you supposed to be rich, you're a famous performer, why you in a tight white van with 17 people?

In , he released his first single, but he was still selling drugs. Sometimes he'd tell his mother he'd made the money from music, but she knew better. Today, she runs the Jay-Z scholarship for underprivileged students. Wasn't she devastated that he spent all his time dealing drugs? There's only so much you can tell a son at that time. You can tell him, don't touch that, it's hot, but at some point you gotta let him see for himself.

The company is essentially an imprint with a record label, talent management agency, music publishing company, and sports agency under one roof, as well includes a philanthropic arm, Team ROC. The mogul went from rapping about Cristal to rapping about his own liquor brand, which is quite legendary in itself.

Over time, Jigga has made it increasingly clear that bringing awareness to social issues that affect black people in America is of great importance. In , he executive produced The Kalief Browder Story and the following year, he released Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story — two powerful and moving stories that deserved to be told. In fact, the rapper-turned-entrepreneur is the first rapper reach billionaire status , according to Forbes.

This is only a fraction of the wealth Hov has built since JAY-Z continues to find ways to control areas of the music business normally dominated by old, rich, white men by changing them from the inside. Outside of music, JAY and Bey are also philanthropists.