Shawn Corey Carter, known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur, and record executive. 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, which have all attained generally positive critical reception and commercial success. Outside of his musical career, Jay-Z has also attained significant success and media attention for his career as a businessman.
In 1999, he founded the clothing retailer Rocawear, and in 2003, he founded the luxury sports bar chain 40/40 Club. In 2015, he acquired the tech company Aspiro. Jay-Z is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 50 million albums and 75 million singles sold worldwide. He has won a total of 22 Grammy Awards, the most by a rapper, and holds the record for the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200, with 14. In 2017, he became the first rapper to be honored into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2018, received the commemorative “Salute to Industry Icons” award at the 60th Grammy Awards. In June 2019, Jay-Z officially became the first hip hop billionaire.
Some of the best quotes from Jay-Z are listed below.
- “A wise man told me don’t argue with fools. Because people from a distance can’t tell who is who.” – Jay-Z
- “All I got is dreams. Nobody else believes. Nobody else can see, nobody else but me.” – Jay-Z
- “As kids we didn’t complain about being poor; we talked about how rich we were going to be and made moves to get the lifestyle we aspired to by any means we could. And as soon as we had a little money, we were eager to show it.” – Jay-Z
- “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – Jay-Z
- “By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn’t need pen or paper – my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape.” – Jay-Z
- “Don’t tell me what was said about me… Tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you.” – Jay-Z
- “Either love me or leave me alone.” – Jay-Z
- “I believe everyone in the world is born with genius-level talent. Apply yourself to whatever you’re genius at, and you can do anything in the world.” – Jay-Z
- “I believe excellence is being able to perform at a high level over and over.” – Jay-Z
- “I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.” – Jay-Z
- “I went through hell, I’m expecting heaven.” – Jay-Z
- “I will not lose, for even in defeat, there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me.” – Jay-Z
- “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.” – Jay-Z
- “I’m a hustler baby; I sell water to a well.” – Jay-Z
- “I’m a mirror. If you’re cool with me, I’m cool with you, and the exchange starts. What you see is what you reflect. If you don’t like what you see, then you’ve done something. If I’m standoffish, that’s because you are.” – Jay-Z
- “I’m hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter. That’s what this world is about.” – Jay-Z
- “I’m like a dog. I never speak, but I understand.” – Jay-Z
- “I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of not trying.” – Jay-Z
- “I’ve never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself, and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that.” – Jay-Z
- “If people don’t hate you, you’re probably not doing very big things.” – Jay-Z
- “It’s hilarious a lot of times. You have a conversation with someone, and he’s like, ‘You speak so well!’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? Do you understand that’s an insult?” – Jay-Z
- “Life is for living, not living uptight. See ya somewhere up in the sky.” – Jay-Z
- “People look at you strange, say you changed. Like you worked that hard to stay the same.” – Jay-Z
- “People respect success. They respect big. They don’t even have to like your music. If you’re big enough, people are drawn to you.” – Jay-Z
- “Rap for me is like making movies, telling stories, and getting the emotions of the songs through in just as deep a way. And I grew up in rap and movies the same way.” – Jay-Z
- “They say a midget standing on a giant’s shoulders can see much further than the giant. So I got the whole rap world on my shoulders, they trying to see further than I am.” – Jay-Z
- “They talk. We live. Who cares what they say?” – Jay-Z
- “Those who are successful overcome their fears and take action. Those who aren’t submit to their fears and live with regrets.” – Jay-Z
- “We change people through conversation, not through censorship.” – Jay-Z
- “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.” – Jay-Z
- “You can pay for school but you can’t buy class.” – Jay-Z
- “You can want success all you want, but to get it, you can’t falter. You can’t slip, you can’t sleep. One eye open, for real, and forever.” – Jay-Z
- “You learn more in failure than you ever do in success.” – Jay-Z
“I’m not a business man. I’m a business, man!”