John Albert Torres - Jay-Z. Hip-Hop Mogul

Jay-Z: Hip-Hop Mogul

Jay-Z is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in America.

Quotes, personal stories, and accessible features along with a discography and where to contact this hip-hop mogul make this biography of Jay-Z a must read.

Its rare that someone is able to go out on top. Athletes, movie stars, singers, and celebrities all tend to stick around past their prime. Its not often that someone can retire right after accomplishing greatness. In baseball, Ted Williams blasted a home run in his very last at-bat. Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera had a great season in 2013, even though he had announced it would be his last.

Music is no different. Jay-Z was already considered by many people to be the greatest rapper of all-time when he announced in 2003 that his next studio album, his eighth, would be his very last. He would be retiring from recording any more solo albums and giving concerts.

Jay-Z holds up his signature hand symbol, which is known as the dynasty sign. It represents Roc-A-Fella, his record label, that he sold to Def Jam Recordings around the time he retired.

He was only thirty-three, but Jay-Z felt that he had reached the highest level he could as a performer.

Disappointed fans waited anxiously for the record to be released. Would it be any good? Was Jay-Z burnt out? Had we already seen his best?

The Black Album was a home run. If Jay-Z was going to retire, then he was going out on top. The album was released on November 14, 2003 and roared up the music charts to the number one spot in its first week, selling 463,000 copies. It wasnt only the fans who thought the album was great. The critics also heralded the recording as the rappers best ever.

Music critic Steve Jones of the USA Today newspaper gave the record the highest rankingfour out of four starsand said Jay-Z was working on a level all his own. RapReviews.com said it was not a good record but a great record!

One of the keys to the record was that Jay-Z was able to use his star power and pull in a lot of high-powered producers and other artists to join him on the record. Some of the guest stars included Kanye West, The Neptunes, Timbaland, Eminem, and Just Blaze.

Three songs from The Black Album became hit singles. They were: Change Clothes, Dirt Off Your Shoulder, and 99 Problems. The record was just another example of what made Jay-Z the most talented and most popular rapper on the planethis ability to rap lyrics effortlessly with just about any type of music.

Like Ted Williams and Mariano Rivera, Jay-Z would be going out on top.

No retirement is complete without a party and so thats just what Jay-Z planned, the ultimate retirement party concert. He called it the Fade to Black concert, which would be filmed and produced into a movie called Fade to Black.

At the Fade to Black concert, Madison Square Garden raised a Roc-A-Fella jersey to the ceiling to show that Jay-Z had retired.

Another concert that Jay-Z put together at Madison Square Garden was the Answer the Call concert in 2009. All proceeds raised at the show were given to the New York Police & Fire Widows and Childrens Benefit Fund.

The retirement party became a whos who of the rap and R&B music industry. Several high-profile acts joined Jay-Z onstage at New Yorks Madison Square Garden and took part in the fun. They included acts and performers such as: The Roots, Beyonc, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, and Foxy Brown among others.

All the proceeds from the concert went to charity. This was not unusual for the man who has never forgotten his roots, the poverty he had to overcome, and the struggles he faced in making it to the top of the music industry.

Jay-Z continued working even though he was retired. He produced albums for other recording artists including rock group Linkin Park and Fort Minor. He also became the president of Def Jam Records. And he became a part-owner of the NBA basketball team the New Jersey Nets, now known as the Brooklyn Nets.

Jay-Z quickly reclaimed his spot on top of the hip-hop world after ending his retirement.

But Jay-Z missed the limelight, missed recording his own music, and missed going out on the road. It wasnt long before he realized that retiring was a big mistake. Making millions of music fans across the world happy, Jay-Z announced that he was un-retiring.

It was the worst retirement in history, he told Entertainment Weekly magazine in 2006. He explained that he made the decision to resume his career after spending some time alone in his music studio. Something, when you love it, is always tugging at you and itching and I was putting it off and putting it off. I started fumbling around to see if it felt good.

It must have felt good, because before long Jay-Z found himself back in front of a microphone doing what he does best. Pretty soon, the album Kingdom Come was released and the worlds most famous rapper found himself in a familiar placeon top of the music charts.

He made fans two promises at that time. First, he would keep making music and rapping until he no longer had anything to say. Second, he would never again announce that he was retiring.

He was back on top. It was a far cry from his humble beginnings, growing up in one of Brooklyns worst drug-infested neighborhoods and the violence that he had become used to. It was also a far cry from the biggest mistake he ever made: selling drugs as a youngster.

Shawn Corey Carter was born on December 4, 1969. Carter, who goes by the stage name Jay-Z, was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs that make up the city of New York.

While there are some very nice parts of Brooklyn, Jay-Z grew up in a housing project called the Marcy Houses located in the gritty and tough Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Housing projects are public housing for families with very low incomes.

Things were made even more difficult when his father, Adnes Reeves, left the family when Jay-Z was still a boy. He was only eleven years old. His mother, Gloria Carter, was forced to provide for and raise Jay-Zthe youngest of her four childrenand his three siblings by herself. He has two older sistersMichelle and Andrea, and one older brother, Eric.

He was the last of my four children, Gloria Carter would later say. He was the only one who didnt give me any pain when I gave birth to him, and thats how I knew he was a special child.