Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter in the Marcy Projects of Brooklyn on December 4th, 1969. His father abandoned his family, and he and his three siblings were raised by their mother.

In 1982, Jay-Z shot his older brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry. In "You Must Love Me", he raps "Saw the devil in your eyes, high off more than weed, confused, I just closed my young eyes and squeezed." At the time, he was terrified he'd spend the rest of his life in jail, but his brother didn't press charges, and they reconciled while he was in the hospital.

Along with rapper AZ, he attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn until it was closed. He then attended nearby George Westinghouse 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.

Reasonable Doubt, which features mafioso rap themes and gritty lyrics about the "hustler" lifestyle, features guest appearances from Memphis Bleek, Mary J. Blige, Jaz-O and The Notorious B.I.G.

"We make a million off of beats, 'cause our stories is deep
And f*** tomorrow, as long as the night before was sweet"

In 1999, Jay-Z collaborated with Mariah Carey on "Heartbreaker", a song from her seventh album, Rainbow. The song became Jay-Z's first chart-topper in the US, spending two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

Jay-Z originally performed the first two verses of "Takeover" as an untitled diss to Prodigy of Mobb Deep at Hot 97's Summer Jam 2001. While performing the line "you was a ballerina / I got the pictures I seen ya" a childhood photograph of Prodigy in ballet clothes appeared on the large screen.

The Blueprint, which received a coveted 5 mic review from hip-hop magazine The Source, was written in just two days. The album sold more than 427,000 copies, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and reached 2x platinum status in the U.S.

Their relationship became a matter of public record on April 22, 2008, but Beyoncé did not publicly debut her $5 million Lorraine Schwartz-designed wedding ring until the Fashion Rocks concert on September 5, 2008.

Eminem was the only guest rapper on the album, producing and rapping on the song "Renegade".