Jay-Z

Shawn Corey Carter, better known by his stage name Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter, music producer, executive producer and entrepreneur, born and raised in New York City. Jay-Z is one of the most influential and wealthy figures in contemporary hip-hop music, had a net worth of over $500 million as of 2012. Jay Z, got rid of the hyphen in his pseudonym: now he calls himself not Jay-Z, but JAY Z. This is reported on Twitter by Billboard journalist Joe Levy, referring to the label that publishes the rapper.

Sean, who already called himself Jay Z, released his first album in late 1996. He chose the pseudonym by chance: one of his rapper acquaintances was called Jazz, and it was he who noted in Sean a unique combination of reading style and meaning. For some time they tried to work together as Jazz and Jazzy, but then their paths diverged, and Jazzy transformed first into Jay-Z, and then into Jay Z.

12 of his albums have charted at the top of the Billboard Top 200. This is a record among all solo artists and the second place in history after The Beatles, who had 19 albums climb to the top spot in the United States.