Shawn Corey Carter, better known as Jay-Z, was born in December 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. According to his mother Gloria Carter, a young Jay-Z used to wake his siblings up at night banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table, so she bought him a boom box for his birthday, sparking his interest in music. He began freestyling, writing rhymes, and entering rap battles (competing against up and coming rappers such as Busta Rhymes, DMX and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Bizzy Bone). In his neighbourhood, Carter was known as "Jazzy", a nickname that developed into "Jay-Z". The moniker also references the J/Z subway lines that have a stop at Brooklyn’s Marcy Avenue (where Jay-Z grew up), and pays homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O (aka Jaz, Big Jaz). Jay-Z can be heard on several of Jaz-O's late 1980’s/early 1990’s recordings including "The Originators" and "Hawaiian Sophie". Jay-Z caught the eye of many record labels after entering a rap battle against a rapper called Zai, and holding his own, and in 1995 he made appearances on Big L’s “Da Graveyard", and on Mic Geronimo's "Time to Build" (which also featured early appearances by DMX, Q-Man, Ja Rule and Shazim Hasan). However, no major label gave him a record deal, so Dame Dash, Jay-Z, and Kareem Biggs created Roc-A-Fella Records as their own independent label. After striking a deal with Priority to distribute his material, Jay-Z released his 1996 debut album “Reasonable Doubt”, with beats from producers such as DJ Premier and Clark Kent, and an appearance by The Notorious B.I.G. - it reached number 23 on the Billboard 200.

After reaching a new distribution deal with Def Jam in 1997, Jay-Z released his follow-up, “In My Lifetime, Vol. 1”, executively produced by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, and, like its predecessor, earned platinum status in the US. 1998's “Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life” saw lead single "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" become Jay-Z's biggest hit at the time, and the album eventually became his most commercially successful, certified 5 times platinum in the US, winning a Grammy, and selling over 8 million worldwide. In 1999, Jay-Z released “Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter”, which went 3 times platinum and sold over 5.6 million copies worldwide.

Due to his increasing popularity, Jay-Z decided to begin developing other artists, and in 2000, along with Damon Dash, signed various artists (including "Dynasty" members Amil, Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek) and began introducing them to the public. The album “The Dynasty: Roc La Familia” was released, a compilation album intending to introduce these new artists (although the album had Jay-Z's name on it to strengthen market recognition and by extension, sales), which sold over 2 million copies in the US.

September 2001's “The Blueprint”, which was written in 2 days and received the coveted 5 mic review from The Source magazine, managed to debut at number 1, selling more than 450,000 albums in its first week, despite its being released on the same day as the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Eminem was the only guest artist on the album, producing and rapping on the single "Renegade". 4 of the 13 tracks were produced by Kanye West (representing one of West's first major breaks in the industry) and the album obtained double platinum status in the US.

Jay-Z's next solo album was 2002's US only, 4 million selling (US only) “The Blueprint. The Gift & the Curse”, a double-album, that was later reissued in a single disc version called “The Blueprint 2.1”, which retained half of the tracks from the original and went on to sell a further 800,000 copies. The album featured tracks such as "'03 Bonnie and Clyde" (featuring Jay-Z's girlfriend of 4 years Beyoncé Knowles), "Guns & Roses" (featuring Lenny Kravitz), "A Dream" (featuring Faith Evans and a recording of the late The Notorious B.I.G) and "The Bounce" (featuring Kanye West).

Jay-Z toured with 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and Sean Paul while finishing work on what was announced as his final album, “The Black Album”, involving producers such as Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West, Timbaland, Eminem, DJ Quik, 9th Wonder and Rick Rubin. It sold over 3 million copies in the US. In November 2003, Jay-Z held a concert at Madison Square Garden (which would later be the focus of his film “Fade To Black”) to mark his retirement from making new studio albums. The show included performances from The Roots (in the form of his backing band), Missy Elliott, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Twista, Ghostface Killah, Foxy Brown, Pharrell and R. Kelly, with all proceeds going to charity. In 2004, a remix project by Danger Mouse called “The Grey Album” was released, in which Jay-Z's “The Black Album” vocals were blended with instrumentals sampled from The Beatles' “White Album”, made possible by an a cappella version of the "Black Album" that Jay-Z released with the specific intent for others to mix. Also in 2004, Jay-Z's collaborated with Linkin Park on a project that released a 6 track EP called "Collision Course", with the remake of the track "Numb/Encore" going on to win a Grammy for “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration” (which was also performed with Linkin Park live at the ceremony, with a special appearance by "Paul McCartney, who added verses from the song “Yesterday”). "Collision Course" sold over 2 million copies in the US alone. Jay-Z was also the executive producer of Fort Minor's debut album “The Rising Tied” (Fort Minor being the side project of Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson).

Jay-Z returned with his comeback album “Kingdom Come” in November 2006, featuring producers such as Just Blaze, Pharrell, Kanye West, Dr. Dre and Coldplay's Chris Martin (on the single entitled "Beach Chair"). It sold over 2 million copies in the US, including around 680,000 in it’s first week. He also made a guest appearance on Fall Out Boy's album “Infinity On High”, and achieved a number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the form of “ Umbrella” with Rihanna, which occupied the top spot for 7 weeks. He also appeared on rapper T.I.'s album “T.I. vs. T.I.P.” (on the song "Watch What You Say to Me"). His 10th album, “American Gangster”, was released in November 2007.

Jay-Z is one of the owners and founders of the Roc-A-Fella empire, which includes Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc-La-Familia, Roc-A-Fella Films, and also Rocawear, an urban clothing brand which has clothing lines and accessories for men, women and children. The line was taken over by Jay-Z in early 2006 following a falling out with co-founder Damon Dash, but in March 2007 Jay-Z sold the rights to the Rocawear brand to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million (although he retains his stake in the company and will continue to oversee the marketing, licensing and product development). Jay-Z co-owns The 40/40 Club, a sports bar that started in New York City, has since expanded to Atlantic City, and has future plans for 40/40 Clubs in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Singapore. He is also a part-owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA team.

Jay-Z has sold over 26 million albums in the US and 50 million worldwide.