The stage name hes known by, Jay Z, was developed from his nickname at his neighborhood Jazzy. Before, his name was used with hyphen Jay-Z, but in July 2013, he made the announcement that he dropped the hyphen. Jay Zs music interests sparked after his mother bought him a boom box to stop waking up his siblings at night by drum beating on the kitchen table.
In late 80s and early 90s, Jay Z was briefly heard at rapper Jaz-O's early recordings. As parts of his efforts to get a record deal, Jay Z was involved in different battles with rapper LL Cool J. His introduction to fame was in 1994 when featured on a posse cut. Jay Zs debut album Reasonable Doubt was released in 1996 and peaked position 23 on the Billboard 200. The big hit of Jay Z and his third album Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life was released in 1998.
Rap music fans was surprised in 2003 by the decision of Jay Zs release of The Black Album and the announcement that its the last and he would retire. But in 2006, this retirement ended and he released the album Kingdom Come.
Jay Z had a violent adolescence with involvement in drugs and gun violence. Jay Z made refers in his lyrics that he was involved in cocaine sell, and was victim of shooting 3 times at that period.
The marking event of Jay Zs personal life is his marriage to singer Beyoncé in 2008 with who he had a daughter born in January 7, 2012.