Biography of Shaw Corey Carter Jay Z - Essay Example

Biography of Shaw Corey Carter ‘Jay Z’ Jay Z, or Shawn Corey Carter in real life, was born inBrooklyn, New York City on the 4th of December 1969. He was born to parents Adnis Reeves and Gloria Carter and grew up in a poor family of three siblings (Brown 2005, 5). His parents experienced serious difficulties in providing the needs of the family due to a lack of stable source of income. His father was a freelancer who was often out of work and his mother was employed as an agent in an insurance company. His family relocated into Marcy Houses when he was only six years old. His new neighborhood was poorer and more derelict (Bankston 2006, 3). His life and music career was heavily influenced by his childhood and teenage years living in poor neighborhoods. From the very start, music has been an essential piece of Shawn’s life. The love for music runs in his family. Shawn was timid and withdrawn as a child, and he found his sanctuary in music. He habitually composed lyrics and rhymes. Two major attributes were observed in Shawn at an early age: (1) intellectually gifted, and (2) a music lover (Cramer 2009, 712). Some of his favorite singers and artists, according to his relatives, were The Temptations, Ohio Players, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and Jackson 5. As a pupil, Shawn displayed brilliance in writing, arts, and mathematics (Bailey 2011, 7). Sadly, his father left their family in 1980, when he was only eleven years old. This was one of the darkest events in his life. The entire family and his mother were utterly devastated. His mother believed that the reason for her husband’s departure is his failure to positively deal with his brother’s tragic death, which gripped him with anger and the desire for retribution. His mother struggled to find more jobs to provide for the needs of her family. Even though his mother was not usually around to be with her children, Shawn had performed well in school. However, when their family started to slowly fall apart, Shawn started to engage in delinquent activities. He did not attend his classes anymore and got involved in street crimes. Shawn became more withdrawn and fearful of becoming too attached to anyone or anything believing that they will eventually leave him or suddenly snatched away from him (Watkins 2005, 74-75). This persona would eventually be viewed as a unique self-confidence he showed while jostling in the streets or negotiating transactions in high rises. He united both his love for musical masterpiece and music itself through rapping. He was very devoted to composition that he persevered to learn rhyming and lyricism. In order to protect his rhymes from stealers, he wrote in an unreadable manner that can only be read by him. He started to become famous as one of the most talented emcees in their neighborhood and chose the alias ‘Jazzy’ which would sooner or later become Jay-Z (Brown 2005, 30). While the rap genre become more and more established in the 1980s as the music of urban youth, Shawn and numerous of his friends and contemporaries became captivated with the thought of becoming rappers. Christopher Wallace and Trevor Smith, who were his high school peers, became hip-hop celebrities Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes (Whitaker 2011, 437). In 1989, Shawn entered the music business for the first time as a guest performer on Word to the Jaz by Jaz-O, one of his peers. Jaz-O was later taken up by Capitol Records and this event was thought to be the opportunity Shawn needed to get himself a record contract. Yet, this endeavor failed because the label tried to advertise Jaz-O, a child of a poor neighborhood, as an artist similar to the uptown Fresh Prince (Whitaker 2011, 30). Shawn was saddened by this development and went back to the streets, composing rap songs, and trading drugs. His second attempt at becoming successful in the music business began after he became friends with Big Daddy Kane, who was regarded as one of the influential performers of the Golden Era of hip-hop, a sex symbol, a highly successful recording artist, and a top-notch composer. Big Daddy Kane decided to accept Shawn after hearing him rap (Spilsbury 2012, 12-14). Shawn was given several opportunities to show his talent to the world. But the CEOs of the music industry remained unimpressed and failed to pull the partnership into a record contract. Shawn went back once more to his street activities. DJ Clark Kent, a previous DJ for a rapper, had confidence in Shawn’s talent. With the support of DJ Clark Kent and a cousin, Shawn made a demo recording. DJ Clark Kent decided to take advantage of his connections as an industry associate to give Shawn a record contract. Kent, turned down repeatedly, finally realized that Shawn should be taken up by qualified and experienced management. Shawn was introduced to Damon ‘Dame’ Dash, a determined and successful music manager. Dame and Shawn then started working toward the greatly desired record contract (Whitaker 2011, 438-439). They started recording Reasonable Doubt, which would become Shawn’s first album. They also decided to get Kareem ‘Biggs’ Burke as a business partner and established Roc-A-Fella Records-- an independent record label. Roc-A-Fella acquired a distribution contract for Reasonable Doubt. The album was made public on the 25th of June 1996 (Brown 2005, 51). It garnered a lot of acclaims. According to Mazurkiewicz (2008, 88), the thoughtful compositions he made contributed much to the ‘bad man’ reputation that has a continuing and vibrant heritage in African American traditions. 1999, in a lot of ways, was a critical year for Shawn and the Roc-A-Fella. By focusing on their performers, Shawn, Burke, and Dash realized the influence they had on mainstream fashion styles. They took advantage of this influence and succeeded (Borthwick & Moy 2004, 174). In 2002, Shawn made public The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse which immediately became very successful. His succeeding albums were also successful. His impact on popular culture did not stop growing. He has collaborated with Steve Stoute, ex-record manager, to create Translation Advertising, aiming to reach culturally diverse populations (Whitaker 2011, 436). Shawn has explored the rough streets and the highly competitive corporate world to emerge as an icon of triumph in both domains. He got involved in several of the minor conflicts or brawls innate in the rap world and surfaced as a stunning model of how to prevent and mitigate disagreements positively. His compositions have changed from specifying the strengths and weaknesses of street deviants to encouraging the youth to reach for their ambitions. At the peak of his fame in 2003 and while the career of Beyonce Knowles was beginning to acquire success, Shawn made a rap presentation on her ‘Crazy in Love’ breakout performance. In the middle of the composition he added in a little historical background about how, from the very beginning, his songs have transformed the pop industry (Watkins 2005, 78). Only a small number of people perhaps recognized that Shawn was talking about 1998, the time the rap genre reached its peak (Watkins 2005, 78). While most extreme rappers promoted overindulgence—overindulgence in sex, fame, and violence—the subtle but self-assured approach and complex rhymes of Shawn made it more realistic. What differentiates him from other extreme rappers is his respect for and interest in plot structure or narrative. Although not as scandalous and outrageous as his extreme contenders, the compositions of Shawn are more overwhelming, more convincing, and, consequently, much more influential. His compositions navigate the fear, obsession, pleasures, and consciousness of the street deviant, and he makes lyrics that promote the ‘well-lived life’ (Cramer 2009, 718), while he cautiously depicts the bleak life realities he swears never to disregard or put out of his mind. Works Cited Bailey, Julius. Jay-Z: Essays on Hip Hop’s Philosopher King. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. Print. Bankston, John. Jay-Z. New York: Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2004. Print. Borthwick, Stuart & Moy, Ron. Popular music genres: an introduction. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print. Brown, Jake. Jay Z and the Roc-A-Fella Records Dynasty. New York: Amber Books Publishing, 2005. Print. Cramer, Alfred. Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century. New York: Salem Press, 2009. Print. Mazurkiewicz, Margaret. Contemporary Black Biography. Michigan: Gale Research, Inc., 2008. Print. Spilsbury, Richard. Jay-Z. London: Raintree, 2012. Print. Watkins, Samuel. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2005. Print. Whitaker, Matthew. Icons of Black America: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Print. Read More