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
I got 99 Problems but Mitt ain't one.
I came, I saw, I conquered From record sales to sold out concerts.
I'm far from being god, but I work god damn hard.
When you're growing up, your dad is your superhero. Once you've let yourself fall that in love with someone, once you put him on such a high pedestal and he lets you down, you never want to experience that pain again.
My thing is related to who I am as a person. The clothes are an extension of me. The music is an extension of me. All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true to whatever I'm feeling at the time, whatever direction I'm heading in. And hopefully, everyone follows.
Kurt Cobain OD'd on heroin before committing suicide, but he also OD'd on fame. Cobain was like Basquiat: They both wanted to be famous, and were brilliant enough to make it happen. But then what? Drug addicts kill themselves trying to get that feeling they got from their first high, looking for an experience they'll never get again. In his suicide note, Cobain asked himself, "Why don't you just enjoy it?" and then answered, "I don't know!" It's amazing how much of a mindfuck success can be.
I never ask for nothin' I don't demand of myself. Honesty, loyalty, friends and then wealth
Don't make decisions based on the fear.
Their gunnin' for me, want to see me fall, you know my story, been through it all, times I felt like dyin', but I ain't cryin', what didn't kill me, makes me strong as iron.
And now we're lethal, infected with D'Evils
Jealousy’s a weak emotion.
I would run into the corner store, the bodega, and just grab a paper bag or buy juice - anything just to get a paper bag. And I'd write the words on the paper bag and stuff these ideas in my pocket until I got back. Then I would transfer them into the notebook.
That's why this generation is the least racist generation ever. You see it all the time. Go to any club. People are intermingling, hanging out, having fun, enjoying the same music. Hip-hop is not just in the Bronx anymore. It's worldwide. Everywhere you go, people are listening to hip-hop and partying together. Hip-hop has done that.
If the beat is time, flow is what we do with that time, how we live through it. The beat is everywhere, but every life has to find its own flow.