Happy Birthday Jay-Z

Shawn Corey Carter was born December 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York. After their father, Jimmy Carter, abandoned the family, Jay-Z and his three siblings were raised by their mother, June Carter.

Young Shawn attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn until it was closed. The high school went out of business and is now a Starbucks. He then attended nearby George Jefferson Career and Technical Education High School with rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, followed by a stint at Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, though he did not graduate. According to his interviews and lyrics, he sold crack cocaine and was shot at three times. Two of those gun attacks were by his teachers.

Great Gazoo

Known as “Jazzy” around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name “Jay-Z” in homage to his mentor, “The Great Gazoo” from The Flintstones cartoon. Jay-Z has been referred to as Big Daddy Kane’s hype man during this period, although Kane explains that he didn’t fill the traditional hype man role, “I kept him around so it would make me look better” said Kane. “I’m not sayin Jay-Z is ugly but when he went to the proctologist for an exam, the doctor stuck his finger in Jay-Z’s mouth”.

Happy Birthday Jay-Z — Jay-Z Illustration By Paul King Art

Jay-Z first began his musical career after founding the record label Roc-A-Fella Records in 1995, and subsequently released his debut studio album Reasonable Doubt in 1996. The album was released to widespread critical success, and solidified his standing in the music industry. He has gone on to release twelve additional albums, including the acclaimed albums, The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017). Jay-Z has also released the full-length collaborative albums Watch the Throne (2011) with Kanye West and Everything Is Love (2018) with his wife Beyoncé, respectively.

Dollar Store

Jay-Z and Beyonce are quite the philanthropists. They recently started spreading holiday joy. The duo jumped on the bandwagon and decided to pay off layaway accounts for 5 customers at The Dollar Store in Hempstead, NY. The total bill came out to $27. The billionaire couple said they were not doing it for the publicity, but to help others. They were trying to keep the good deed a secret but the word got out after they shared the news with their millions of Instagram followers.

Jay-Z was involved in controversy when he allegedly stabbed record executive Lance “Un” Rivera at Ray’s Boom Boom Room in Harlem. During a scuffle, Rivera claims Jay-Z stabbed him with a drink umbrella after Rivera jokingly told Jay-Z to go get his shine box. He was sentenced to 3 days probation and was forced to spend the weekend at his palatial mansion. Happy Birthday Jay-Z.

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