The Matthew Effect: A Brief Story Of JAY-Z's Work

The Matthew Effect worked remarkably well in JAY-Z’s favor from his phenomenal, natural ability to work his way to his success, and to also work his way to the advantages the Matthew Effect has from his fruits of labor. As a child, JAY-Z grew up in poverty, “he was raised by his mom in the projects of Brooklyn, and his dad had abandoned him at a very young age” (Newsmakers). He was exposed to drugs, violence, murder, and poverty from the beginning, making him disadvantaged in every which way, and he had to resort to selling drugs as a kid to get by (Newsmakers). Due to JAY-Z growing up in these heinous living conditions, he had found one thing that was his escape from it all, Rap. This had given JAY-Z the upper hand in getting ahead above other

The immense passion and determination that music gave him helped him move out of the Brooklyn Projects and away from that way of life. Moving forward it would be the defining moment of JAY-Z’s life that meant he was chosen for this, and the Matthew Effect had blessed him. When Jay-Z was first starting out, he met Damon “Dame” Dash, who already had 2 record deals by 19 for his amazing talent. The two of them teamed up together and Dame Dash saw huge potential in this young soon to be star. They worked together for months and they went to multiple record label companies. Despite his efforts, they all rejected him, they said there was no market for his music and radios didn’t want to play his music. "I went to every single record label, and they was like, 'This guy is terrible. He's nothing,' I had to put Reasonable Doubt out myself, because nobody would sign me." (Jay Z, MTV News, 2009). Jay Z and Dame Dash figured if those record labels won’t sign him, then they would have to take matters into their own hands and make their own record label. And they did exactly that, and this was the birth of JAY-Z’s record label company “Roc-A-Fella”. They released their first hit single together “A Hard Knock