What Was Jay Z Major Accomplishments

Born on December 04, 1969, Jay Z originally known as Shawn Corey Carter had grown up in Brooklyn’s Marcy housing projects in New York. He had only his mother to raise him as his father had walked out on them when he was only just a boy. He was the last of his four siblings. In 1996 he and his two neighborhood friends had formed Roc-A-Fella records and had issued Jay-Z's debut, Reasonable Doubt. This had been a grand accomplishment from a rapper who at the time was not very well known. Of course this only foreshadowed his later great success in the industry of rap and hip hop. This was the beginning of Jay Z as we know it.

Getting Started

Jay Z’s next move was to try to convince his friend Jaz-O to sign to the label. Jaz-O had declined and

He had become the president of Def Jams recordings. Becoming the president of Def Jams Recordings he was able to sign popular acts such as Rihanna, Ne-Yo and Young Jeezy. He had as well helped Kanye West’s transition from producer to bestselling recording artist. Things didn’t go all too smoothly because he resigned as Def Jams president in 2007. He had complained about the company's resistance to change from ineffectual business models. "You have record executives who've been sitting in their office for 20 years because of one act," he lamented. Yet apart from all this he had other business ventures to look forward to. This included the popular urban clothing line Roca wear and Rock-A-Fella films. He also owned the 40/40 Club, an upscale sports bar with locations in Atlantic City and New York. As said by Jay-Z himself in a rap about his business empire, "I'm not a businessman I'm a business, man." (http://www.biography.com/people/jay-z-507696#comeback)

Comeback

Soon enough he was ready to make his comeback back into the music industry. He started by releasing his new album Kingdom Come. He soon released two more albums; American Gangster in 2007 and Blueprint 3 in 2010. His later trios of albums were vastly different from what he had started off with when he had been a fresh face in the music industry. He had incorporated rock and soul influences in their production.