[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jay-z-resize_79.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:340: He's got 99 problems, but this page ain't one!]]
-> ''I'm representin' for the seat where [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Rosa Parks sat]]''\\
''where UsefulNotes/MalcolmX was shot, where [[UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr Martin Luther]] was popped''
-->-- '''"The Ruler's Back"'''

Jay-Z is an American rapper, record producer and entrepreneur. He arose from the ashes left by [[Music/TheNotoriousBIG Biggie Smalls]]' death and the subsequent battle between him and Music/{{Nas}}. Though he isn't a [[GangstaRap gangsta rapper]], he has perfected the BoastfulRap, even calling himself [[AnswersToTheNameOfGod Jay]] [[BlasphemousBoast Hova]]. And he gets away with it -- his rhymes are sharp, his beats were jazz-like, and his ego is towering.

He's not a businessman. He's a ''business, man.''

But before that, he was Shawn Corey Carter, born on December 4, 1969. Originally from the Marcy Houses housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, he was abandoned by his father, and at 12 years old, he shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry. Carter attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn, along with rapper AZ, until it was closed down. After that, he attended George Westinghouse Information Technology High School in Downtown Brooklyn (which fellow rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Music/BustaRhymes also attended) and Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, but did not graduate. In his music, he refers to having been involved in selling crack cocaine.

According to his mother, Gloria Carter, he used to wake his siblings up at night banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table as a child. Eventually, she bought him a boom box for his birthday, sparking his interest in music. He began freestyling, writing lyrics, and followed the music of many artists popular at the time. In his neighborhood, Carter was known as "Jazzy", a nickname that eventually developed into his stage name, "Jay-Z". The moniker is also an homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O, as well as to the J/Z subway services that have a stop at Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn. (Jay-Z can briefly be heard on several of Jaz-O's early recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including "The Originators" and "Hawaiian Sophie".)

Jay-Z was involved in and won several battles with Music/LLCoolJ in the early '90s as part of a plan to get a sought-after record deal. He first became known to a wide audience by being featured on the posse cut "Show and Prove" on Big Daddy Kane's 1994 album ''Daddy's Home''. Jay-Z has been referred to as Kane's hype man during this period, though Kane explains that he didn't fill the traditional hype man role, instead "basically [making] cameo appearances on stage. When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage." He made an appearance on a popular song by Big L, "Da Graveyard", and on Mic Geronimo's "Time to Build", which also featured early appearances by Music/{{DMX}}, and Ja Rule in 1995.

His first official rap single was called "In my Lifetime", for which he released a music video. From the beginning of his professional recording career, when no major label gave him a record deal, Jay-Z alongside Damon Dash 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 acclaimed producers such as DJ Premier and Super DJ Clark Kent and a notable appearance by The Notorious B.I.G. The album went on to become a hip-hop classic and helped put both Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records on the proverbial map.

He’s been married to fellow megastar Music/{{Beyonce}} since 2008. They have three kids: Blue Ivy (born 2012) and twins Rumi and Sir (born 2017). They’re notoriously private and work relentlessly to keep their children out of the spotlight, especially the twins, whose faces they’ve only shown a handful of times and only on their terms. In their professional careers, the two spouses have also worked together collaboratively for years. They finally formed [[Music/TheCarters an official duo]] in 2018.
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!!Discography:

* ''Reasonable Doubt'' (1996)
* ''In My Lifetime, Vol. 1'' (1997)
* ''Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life'' (1998)
* ''Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter'' (1999)
* ''The Dynasty: Roc La Familia'' (2000)
* ''The Blueprint'' (2001)
* ''The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse'' (2002)
* ''The Best of Both Worlds'' (with [[Music/RKelly R. Kelly]]) (2002)
* ''The Black Album'' (2003)
* ''Collision Course'' (with Music/LinkinPark) (2004)
* ''Kingdom Come'' (2006)
* ''American Gangster'' (2007)
* ''The Blueprint 3'' (2009)
* ''Watch The Throne'' (with Music/KanyeWest) (2011)
* ''Magna Carta Holy Grail'' (2013)
* ''4:44'' (2017)
* ''[[Music/TheCarters Everything is Love]]'' (with Music/{{Beyonce}}) (2018)

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!!! "The Life and Tropes of S. Carter":
* AnAesop: The ultimate point of "The Story of O.J." is Jay-Z imparting what he sees as a solution to black solidarity and generational empowerment: ''generational'' wealth. It's essentially Jay playing financial advisor for his listeners, speaking as one of the most lucrative businessmen in his industry, and one who has made huge mistakes he still regrets and directs to avoid.
-->Financial freedom my only hope\\
Fuck livin' rich and dyin' broke\\
I bought some artwork for one million\\
Two years later, that shit worth two million\\
Few years later, that shit worth eight million\\
[[PassingTheTorch I can't wait to give this shit to my children!]]\\
Y'all think it's bougie, I'm like, it's fine\\
But I'm tryin' to give you a million dollars worth of game for $9.99
* AntiPoliceSong: The second verse of "99 Problems" details an apocryphal traffic stop done to him by a cop on obviously-filmsy pretext ("doin' 55 in a 54"), insinuating that he was singled out and pulled over for Driving While Black.
* AtLeastIAdmitIt: in "A Star Is Born", He acknowledges Nas's claim about Eminem outperforming Jigga on "Renegade".
* AudienceParticipationSong: "Encore". Jay-Z sometimes performs this as the encore of his live performances, and when he gets to the lines that say "For one last time I need y'all to roar", the audience responds accordingly.
* AuthorTract: "D.O.A. (Death of AutoTune)".
** "Ignorant Shit" was his views on both the Don Imus situation and people preferring his more superficial music over his rather large body of lyrically deft work.
* BigApplesauce: "Empire State of Mind".
** He's been highly vocal about his roots in NYC ever since the beginning.
---> ''I'm from Marcy, I'm bossy...''
** And his CreatorProvincialism extended to the point where he bought a stake in [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation the NBA's Nets]], and when the team moved from [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]] to Brooklyn, he helped design the new logo. He has since sold his interest in the team.
** "Marcy Me" is made of this.
* {{Bookends}}: The song "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" begins and ends with the line "Now tuned into the motherfucking greatest"
* CallingTheOldManOut: "Where Have You Been?", in which Jay and Beanie Sigel both call out their deadbeat dads for not being there for them in their childhoods.
* CelebritySong: "Tom Ford", from ''Magna Carta Holy Grail".
* ConceptAlbum: The ''American Gangster'' album is inspired by [[Film/AmericanGangster the movie of the same name]]. It's based around [[ForWantOfANail the path he may have followed]] if he had continued to sell drugs as opposed to becoming a rapper.
* CrapsackWorld: The main idea of "Where I'm From" is to highlight how dangerous it is in the Marcy projects in Brooklyn, New York, which was where he grew up.
* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: A good portion of the ''American Gangster'' album. This trope is invoked by name during the Album's introduction. Jay-Z tends to invoke this with his style of rap. It's not quite gangsta rap to the point where it has to get dirty. He is rarely anything but [[GangstaRap Type 4]]. He does have tendencies towards [[GlamRap boastful money ballads]] but he tends to [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools be the best at them.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: ''The Story of O.J.'' uses the athlete's proclivity for stressing how he was dissimilar from the usual African-American to talk about how the black community segregates itself with labels before using that as a springboard to talk about wisely spending and investing your money.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The music video for ''The Story of O.J.'' is animated in the InkblotCartoonStyle and references a lot of the racist imagery from cartoons of that era, such as those in the WesternAnimation/CensoredEleven, to reinforce it's commentary on race
* DistinctDoubleAlbum: ''The Blueprint 2: The Gift And The Curse'' was spread across two discs, one labeled "The Gift" and the other labeled "The Curse" (hence the title). The Gift (blue label) is a lighter, more radio-friendly disc with quite a few guest stars, while the material on The Curse (black label) is a bit darker and has less guests. Interestingly, the album's reception was mixed because many felt that it had too much filler (a common criticism of double albums, including ''[[Music/TheNotoriousBIG Life After Death]]'' and ''[[Music/TupacShakur All Eyez On Me]]''), so Jay-Z took the best bits from both the Gift and the Curse, put them on one disc, and released it as The Blueprint 2.1.
* DownerEnding: "Success" and "Fallin" on the ''American Gangster'' album. "Meet The Parents" off of the ''The Blueprint 2''
** "D'Evils" from ''Reasonable Doubt'' has a "downer" feel to it. Could be a downer ending considering it's a violent fallout between two friends.
** "Coming of Age [Da Sequel]", for the same reasons as "D'Evils".
* DualMeaningChorus: The infamous hook of "99 Problems", "I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one", takes on three meanings.
** Superficially (and actually incorrectly), the hook has been seen as misogynistic in the context of "bitch" referring to a woman.
** At the end of the second verse, a scenario where Jay smart-mouths a cop that pulls him over that ends with the cop calling in his [=K9=] unit on Jay, the hook is repeated with "bitch" now referring to a female dog, much like the dog Jay is about to face.
** At the end of the final verse, Jay slightly rewords the hook to say, "I got 99 problems, ''being a bitch'' ain't one."
* DueToTheDead: The last two verses in "Real Niggaz" featuring West Coast rapper Music/TooShort.
-->'''Jay-Z:''' I want Biggie to rest in peace, as well as 'Pac. How real is that?
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: He, Biggie and Busta Rhymes all attended the George Westinghouse Information Technology High School at the same time.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: How do you know Jay's working on a new album? He stops getting his hair cut. The bigger the fro, the more we have to wait.
* EvilFormerFriend: Damon Dash, Beanie Sigel, Jaz-O, [[RoguesGallery etc.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: Memphis Bleek's character in "Coming of Age [Da Sequel]".
* FelonyMisdemeanor: The famous second verse of "99 Problems" details this, with Jay being pulled over by a racist officer simply for being Black and wearing his hat low. Jay gets the idea of [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere speeding away just to not have to deal with him]], and the officer attempts to give a pretext on why he stopped him and continues to pester him to try and find something that could land Jay in hot water.
* FinalBattle: After concluding his feud with [=Nas=] he hasn't engaged in a major beef since.
* ForeverYoungSong: "Young Forever", which is a remix of Music/{{Alphaville}}'s "Forever Young".
* GangstaRap: His style in the 90's. He moved away from it on 2001's ''The Blueprint'' but briefly returned to it on 2007's ''American Gangster''. Here are the stylings for this gangsta rap albums:
** ''Reasonable Doubt'': Mafioso.
** ''Vols. 1-3'': Commercial with shades of Blue Collar.
** ''American Gangster'': Blue Collar.
* GayBravado:
** Towards the end of his part in "Supa Ugly" where he brags about [[{{Cuckold}} sleeping with Nas' girlfriend]] he slips into this, while also calling out Nas' preoccupation with accusing him of being gay.
--->''And since you infatuated with saying that gay shit\\
Yes, you was kissing my dick when you was kissing that bitch''
** From his verse on Music/KanyeWest's "So Appalled":
--->''I'm fresher than you all, so I don't need to pause'' [[note]]"Pause" is slang meaning that what was just said [[ThatCameOutWrong wasn't meant sexually]][[/note]]\\
''All of y'all can suck my balls through my drawers''
* GlamRap: Occasionally dips into this, with his own twist. For instance Niggas In Paris from [[BoastfulRap ''Watch The Throne'']], or Takeover from ''The Blueprint''. But it's not a dominant theme.
** Or this gem from Young Forever:
--->[[CoolCar Slamming Bentley Doors]]\\
Hopping out of Porsches\\
[[SelfMadeMan Popping up Forbes list]]\\
Gorgeous.\\
[[VerbalTic Hol'up.]]
** The entirety of ''Magna Carta Holy Grail''.
* GenreSavvy: "Moment of Clarity":
---> Music business hate me cause the industry ain't make me\\
Hustlers and boosters embrace me and the music I be makin'\\
I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars\\
They criticized me for it yet they all yell "HOLLA!"\\
If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be\\
lyrically, Talib Kweli\\
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense\\
But I did five mil, I ain't been rhymin' like Common since\\
When your cents got that much in common\\
And you been hustlin' since, your inception\\
Fuck perception go with what makes sense\\
Since I know what I'm up against\\
We as rappers must decide what's most important\\
And I can't help the poor if I'm one of them\\
So I got rich and gave back, to me that's the win/win\\
So next time you see the homey and his rims spin\\
Just know my mind is workin' just like them...\\
(Rims, that is)
* HappilyMarried: To {{Music/Beyonce}}.
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: ''Reasonable Doubt'' starts wth one.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Memphis Bleek As long as Jay's alive he's a millionaire, and even if Jay dies he's in his will somewhere.
** Also arguably Kanye West.
* ICallItVera: His little two-two, he call it Peggy Sue.
* ICouldaBeenAContender: Parodied with ''The Story of O.J.'' where he confides with his ambivalent psychologist that one of his deepest regrets was that he didn't invest in Dumbo, Brooklyn urban development "before it was Dumbo."
* IHaveManyNames: Jay-Z, Jigga, Jay-Hova, Hove, Young H.O, Young Vito, Jiggaman, S-Dot, President Carter, etc. Par for the course as far as most rappers go. It did really start with the Music/WuTangClan.
* TheIlluminati: Lately uses more and more Masonic references, such as the pyramid and the all-seeing eye, especially on his streetwear merchandise, or [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6l7f26fJOM0/SqxLrzbj_1I/AAAAAAAAAHY/iRmuyLPXwkg/s400/16946617dasurs912200951509am.jpg during concerts]]. Apparently , the increase in Masonic symbols is to {{Troll}} his haters.
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle:
** The first track of ''4:44'' is titled "Kill Jay Z".
** "Niggas in Paris" from ''Watch The Throne''.
* KarmaHoudini: If you believe his former partners at Roc-a-Fella Records, Jay stole the brand and allied himself with Def Jam behind their backs. Despite his shady dealings, Jay-Z's public image never suffered, where Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke have faded into obscurity (and in Biggs' case, prison).
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: Several. He even calls himself the [[ProudToBeAGeek "Monster of the Double Entendre."]]
** Apparently turned up to eleven with the "''Triple'' Entendre" he claims to perform in [=Drake=]'s "Light Up"; however, this is a subversion because he actually uses three completely different words, so it's not an entendre of any kind.
* LegacyCharacter: [[MultipleChoicePast one possible origin of his stage name]] is that he named himself after his mentor, Jaz-O.
* LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics: In "Takeover", He claims that Nas has been in the rap game for 10 years (the song was released in 2001), even though his debut ''Illmatic'' was released in 1994, by counting his 1991 feature on Main Source's "Live At The Barbecue" as the start of his career. Meanwhile, Jay claims his own career has been only 5 years, counting from ''Reasonable Doubt'''s release in 1996, even though he started appearing on records by Jaz-O as early as 1989.
* TheMentor: To Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, State Property, Music/KanyeWest, {{Music/Rihanna}}, Music/YoungJeezy, Music/RickRoss, Alexis Jordan, Music/RitaOra and Music/JCole.
* MinimalisticCoverArt: ''4:44'' has a peach backdrop, the underlined phrase "This is his 13th studio album" at the top, the album's title at the bottom, and nothing else. Even the Parental Advisory label is just a sticker. Flip the case over, and all you'll see on the back is the barcode, the Roc Nation logo, and the legal info.
* MommasBoy: His mom made him apologize to Nas for "Supa Ugly". He shared this trope with Nas during this rivalry in the early 2000's and both admitted their mothers in a joint interview with Sway was an impetus behind the rivalry's decline.
* MultipleChoicePast: Does his name come from the reason above, the slang term "Jazzy", or is it a ShoutOut to the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCitySubway services that pass through Marcy Avenue?
* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiz6F8qjK9Q "Who are you?"]] -- Nardwuar just wanted him to say his name.
* NWordPrivileges: The most blatant example in his whole body of work would be the hook to "The Story of O.J.".
--> ''Light nigga, dark nigga\\
Faux nigga, real nigga\\
Rich nigga, poor nigga\\
House nigga, field nigga\\
Still nigga''
* OddFriendship: Jay-Z and Beyonce often go on double dates with [[Music/{{Coldplay}} Chris Martin]] and Gwyneth Paltrow.
* PrettyInMink: Amil sang the chorus for "Jigga What, Jigga Who", and she appeared in the video wearing a white fox fur jacket.
* RageAgainstTheMentor: After years of respect and even a few features on songs, Jay-Z and Jaz-O began a beef that has gone on for years with no signs of ever resolving. Almost anytime Jay mentions Jaz is to diss him.
** His own former proteges, most notably Beanie Sigel and Peedi Crakk, have also called Jay out for what they feel is snaky behavior. Many of the artists who sided with Jay over Dame in the Roc-A-Fella split feel he didn't do nearly enough to help them out while president at Def Jam; [[SingleIssueWonk this is usually the only thing they have to talk about during their interviews]].
* [[EvilPowerVacuum Rap Power Vacuum]]: Many cynical fans feel this is how Jay-Z rose to prominence.
* RedOniBlueOni: Jay-Z is the [[HotBlooded passionate]] life-loving boaster, while [=Nas=] is the [[TheStoic quieter, angrier and darker rebel]].
** Compared to collaborator Music/KanyeWest, Jay-Z is a dignified, well-adjusted elder statesman of rap while Kanye is an eccentric, goofy dynamo with a reputation for making a spectacle.
* ReformedRake: Married to Beyonce Knowles.
* TheRival: To [=Nas=] for quite a while, though he expressed respect and they always seemed to treat each other as a WorthyOpponent. The two have now reconciled.
* SassyBlackWoman: Featured in "Girls Girls Girls". She don't care if you rap, you better R-E-S-P-E-C-T her.
* SelfDeprecation: The entirety of "Kill Jay Z" is basically a self-targeted ReasonYouSuckSpeech:
-->''[[TitleDrop Kill Jay Z]], they'll never love you\\
You'll never be enough, let's just keep it real, Jay Z\\
Fuck Jay Z, I mean, you shot your own brother\\
How can we know if we can trust Jay Z?''
* SharpDressedMan[=/=]BadassInANiceSuit: When not in Hawaiian Tees and depending on his {{Face}} or {{Heel}} status.
* ShoutOut: He has a tendency to quote his peers and rappers that inspired him. Though [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybEZF4Vbe3A detractors]] claim this is simply a lack of creativity.
** His album ''Kingdom Come'' was named after Creator/MarkWaid and Alex Ross's ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''. Which may lead to some head scratching depending on whether you view the original as a {{Reconstruction}} or a {{Deconstruction}} of a Reconstruction.
* [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Spell My Name Without A Hyphen]]: Dropped the "-" in early 2013. As you can tell from this page, "Jay Z" hasn't quite caught on...
* StealthPun: All over the place.
* SuperGroup: He and Kanye announced in 2011 that they were officially going to tour under the name "The Throne" to promote their album, ''Watch The Throne''.
** Previously he was a member of "Murder Inc." with [=DMX=] and Ja Rule. Earlier than that he and Biggie formed a group called "The Commission" that included themselves, Charli Baltimore, Lil Cease and Puffy.
* TenMinuteRetirement: After ''The Black Album,'' though no one really expected it to last in the first place.
** Earlier than that he was supposed to retire after the release of ''Reasonable Doubt'' so basically his entire discography has been taking place during his "retirement". Jay-Z himself lampshaded this in the intro to his sophomore album:
--> "Sorry boys, but all the money in the world couldn't bring me back again... [[ILied OKAY! I'M RELOADED!!!]]"
** He also briefly talked about ''Kingdom Come'' being his last album, and then said he was retiring after ''Kingdom Come'', which came out a year or two later. At this point nobody bats an eye when he says he's "retiring".
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Jay's ad-lib at the end of "Dirt off Your Shoulder/Lying from You" with Linkin Park.
** Other good examples of this are in the first verse of "Off That" and the third verse of "Say Hello"
** This is rap. It's all over the place, bitch.
* UptownGirl: Beyoncé for him in a class respect. Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles was a salesman and later a successful businessman, and Beyoncé grew up distinctly upper-middle-class at a minumum. Jay-Z, on the other hand, grew up the Brooklyn projects. Of course, both were ''loaded'' when they met, so nobody was terribly shocked, but the divide is definitely there.
* VerbalBackspace: From "Beach is Better", after Jay accidentally insults his wife:
-->''Girl, why you never ready?\\
For as long as you took, you better look like Creator/HalleBerry''\\
[beat]''...or Music/{{Beyonce}}!''
* VerbalTic: Especially when featured as a guest rapper, he'll often prefix his verse with his signature grunt (or by yelling "Young") as a way of saying "brace yourself, Jay-Z is about to go in"
** He's been sprinkling the grunt in a lot more lately too; cf. "Made In America" on ''Watch the Throne''.
* VisualPun: In the video for "On To The Next One" at the line "No I'm not a virgin, I use my Cojones" the picture changes to a pair of glass balls.
* WhamLine: "I was just fuckin' them girls; I was gon' get right back!" from "Song Cry." The song up to this point gives the vibe that Jay has no idea why the relationship he's talking about went bad. This line makes it clear that he's either in denial or genuinely didn't expect the girl to dump him after he cheated on her.
* WhatTheHellHero: The line in Jay-Z's freestyle "[=SupaUgly=]" referencing Nas' baby's mother did sit not well with his mother, who made him apologize saying what he did was "poor taste".
* WritersCannotDoMath: In "Takeover" he makes the claim that Nas has only released 4 albums in 10 years. As noted above (see LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics), he intentionally fudges the numbers (it's actually 4 in 7 years, and Nas would release ''Stillmatic'' later that year bringing it to 5), but he also makes a rounding error saying that 10 divided by 4 is 2 (It's 2.5, but assuming you want a whole number you would round up to 3).
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