Jay-Z, born in 1969, is a rapper, entrepreneur, record producer, and husband of pop star Beyoncé. He is one of the most successful rappers of all time, having sold over 125 million copies worldwide. He holds the record as the rapper with the most Grammy Award wins and has become a mentor to numerous singers including Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Shakira, Kylie Minogue, Rita Ora, Romeo Santos, Big Sean, DJ Khaled, Sam Martin, Demi Lovato , Nick Jonas, J. Cole, Kanye West and wife Beyoncé. He is the president of record labels Def Jam Recordings, Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Nation, as well as the owner of music streaming service Tidal.

In 2006 MTV named him the best rapper of all time and three of his albums make it to the list of 500 greatest albums of all time according to Rolling Stone. He has had 13 No. 1 debuts on the US Billboard 200 making him one of the artists with the most No. 1 debuts.

The US magazine Forbes has ranked Jay-Z first among the richest singers in the world, with a fortune of around 2.5 billion dollars. The same magazine also elected the Jay-Z/Beyoncé couple the richest artistic couple in the world, with a combined assets exceeding one billion US dollars.

In 2017 he is the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame as he changed the way we listen to music, and changed the way we enjoy it. In 2021 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.