THROWBACTHISDAY; is Jay Z's Birthday

              

                        

                          

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known by his stage name Jay Z (formerly Jay-Z), is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur and one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America.

Shawn Carter was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Marcy Houses, a housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

                                                          

He and his three siblings were raised by their mother, Gloria Carter, after their father abandoned the family. He claims in his lyrics that in 1982, at the age of 12, he shot his older brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry.^[23][24] Carter attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn, along with future rapper AZ, until it was closed down. After that he attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Downtown Brooklyn, with fellow future rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, and Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, but did not graduate.^[25] In his music he refers to having been involved in selling crack cocaine.^[24] He has also said he had been shot at three times during this time in his life.

                                                             

According to his mother, Carter used to wake up his siblings at night banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table. Eventually, she bought him aboom box for his birthday, sparking his interest in music. He began freestyling, writing lyrics, and followed the music of many artists popular at the time.^[26] In his neighborhood, Carter was known as "Jazzy", a nickname that eventually developed into his showbiz/stage name, "Jay-Z". Themoniker is also an homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O.^[22] On July 18, 2013, he announced he was leaving out the hyphen, and prefers to be known as "Jay Z.

With no major label to give him a record deal, Jay Z sold CDs out of his car^[23] and, with Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs, created Roc-A-Fella Records as their own independent label in 1995. After striking a distribution deal with Priority, Jay Z released his 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt with beats from acclaimed producers such as DJ Premier andSuper DJ Clark Kent and an appearance by The Notorious B.I.G.. The album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200, and was generally favored by critics.^[22] This album would later be included in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" as No. 248 and eventually reach platinum status.

THROWBACTHISDAY; makes it 46 years and TBT Blog wish him a happy birthday.