Jay-Z
Rapper
1969-12-04
American rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur widely regarded as one of hip hop's most influential artists. His recording career and business ventures have had major global impact.
Books by Jay-Z
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Decoded
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Quotes by Jay-Z
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You could name practically any problem in the hood and there'd be a rap song for you.
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Rap has been a path between cultures in the best tradition of popular music.
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Only God can judge me so I'm gone, either love me or leave me alone.
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I couldn't even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldn't let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn't stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of keeping sane.
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A poet's mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.
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I couldn't even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldn't let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn't stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of keeping sane.
Read quote -
You could name practically any problem in the hood and there'd be a rap song for you.
Read quote -
Only God can judge me so I'm gone, either love me or leave me alone.
Read quote -
A poet's mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.
Read quote -
Rap has been a path between cultures in the best tradition of popular music.
Read quote -
I came into this music business at 26 years old. I was a fully developed man at that point. At that age, I didn't have anything to prove.
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I am against discrimination of any kind, but if I make snap judgments, no matter who it's towards, aren't I committing the same sin as someone who profiles?
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When you're accustomed to wealth, you don't show it, right? That's why the white kids in school could wear bummy sneakers; it's almost like, 'Don't show wealth - that's crass.'
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I'm a mirror. If you're cool with me, I'm cool with you, and the exchange starts. What you see is what you reflect. If you don't like what you see, then you've done something. If I'm standoffish, that's because you are.
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All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true to whatever I'm feeling at the time, whatever direction I'm heading in.
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I've never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I've always wanted to stay true to myself, and I've managed to do that. People have to accept that.
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I grew up in Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, and my mom and pop had an extensive record collection, so Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and all of those sounds and souls of Motown filled the house.
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Successful people have a bigger fear of failure than people who've never done anything because if you haven't been successful, then you don't know how it feels to lose it all. You don't have that fear. So why do you think people get stuck in those boxes? It's that fear of going back down.
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I don't think any rapper can go back. You can be a car salesman, a bank teller - I mean, really good jobs, and people are still gonna look at you and be like, 'You used to rap; what happened?'
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They say a midget standing on a giant's shoulders can see much further than the giant. So I got the whole rap world on my shoulders, they trying to see further than I am.
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