Jay-Z: Founder of Roc Nation and First Hip-Hop Billionaire

About Jay-Z: Founder of Roc Nation and First Hip-Hop Billionaire

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, businessman and record executive. In 2023 Billboard and Vibe ranked him the greatest rapper of all time, and according to Forbes he is the wealthiest music artist in history, worth an estimated US$2.8 billion as of 2026. Jay-Z began recording in the late 1980s as a protege of the New York rapper Jaz-O and co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994 to release his first two albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996) and In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997). He has 14 number-one albums on the Billboard 200, the third-most in history. He served as president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007, during which he helped launch the careers of Kanye West, Rihanna and Ne-Yo. His business ventures are a case study in artist-owned enterprise. He co-founded the clothing retailer Rocawear in 1999 and founded the luxury bar chain 40/40 Club in 2003; as both grew into multi-million-dollar businesses he launched Roc Nation, a multi-disciplinary entertainment agency, in 2008. In 2015 he acquired the technology company Aspiro and led the expansion of its streaming service Tidal. Through these ventures Jay-Z became the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019, and after Block, Inc. acquired a majority stake in Tidal in March 2021 he joined its board of directors. Sources: English Wikipedia (Jay-Z, accessed September 2026).

Basic Information

Founder, Roc Nation; co-founder, Roc-A-Fella Records and Rocawear

Company Details

Roc Nation

Entertainment, Music, Apparel, Streaming

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