Shawn Corey Carter, known professionally as Jay-Z, currently stylized as JAŸ-Z is an American rapper, businessman, and record executive. He was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, Jay-Z is known for his complex lyricism that often uses double entendres, wordplay, and braggadocio. His music is built on a rags to riches narrative. He is the richest musician, worth $2.6 billion as of 2025.
A protégé of the fellow New York City-based rapper Jaz-O, Jay-Z began recording music in the late 1980s. He co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994 to release his first two studio albums Reasonable Doubt (1996) and In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997), both of which received acclaim. His 11 subsequent albums, including The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017), debuted atop the Billboard 200. Jay-Z a total of has 14 number-one albums, tied with Drake for the second-most for a solo artist.