Social Stratification Of Jay Z

1252 Words6 Pages
Armand Burns
5/4/15
Social Stratification
INTRODUCTION
In this paper, I will discuss the topic of new rich and race in the post-Civil Rights, Information and Entertainment Age. The economic elite today are drawn from these industries and displacing the old magnet elites based on the second industrial revolution. To focus my work, I follow rapper millionaire Jay-Z. It will include the path he took in order to get rich, his areas of wealth and cultural impacts. This wouldn’t be considered the ideal journey to success, this is a journey of a man who went from a drug dealer turned rapper turned entrepreneur and family man. Not too many can say they went from dealing drugs to becoming the cultural force that he is today. [This is a curious outcome given that Jaz-Z, as African American, is from an underrepresented minority group in the ranks of millionaires.] When you are successful as a black person it seems like you are treated differently because we aren’t supposed to be as successful as other races. Once a certain level of success is reached people have no choice but to honor and respect your social status, it comes with the territory. Regardless if you are hated or loved for whatever reasons, reaching a certain level of the upper class gives you the power to gain respect.
THE START: RAPPER TO ENTREPRENEUR Rapper, record producer and hip-hop executive Jay Z was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 4th, 1969. The gentleman named Shawn Carter was raised in the Marcy