JAY-Z TURNS 44 TODAY

One of The America's biggest name in the rap world JayZ, marks his 44th birthday today,

JAYZ'S QUICK PROFILE

NAME:     Jay-Z
OCCUPATION:         Entrepreneur, Music Producer, Rapper
BIRTH DATE:            December 04, 1969 (Age: 44)
PLACE OF BIRTH:    New York, New York
FULL NAME:          Jay-Z
OCCUPATION:         Entrepreneur, Music Producer, Rapper
BIRTH DATE:           December 04, 1969 (Age: 44)
PLACE OF BIRTH:  New York, New York
FULL NAME:          Shawn Corey Carter
AKA:                        Shawn Carter
AKA: Jay Z
AKA: HOV
AKA BY NIGERIANS: BABA BLUE

BRIEF LIFE HISTORY
Born Shawn Corey Carter in New York City on December 4, 1969, Jay-Z grew up in Brooklyn's drug-infested Marcy Projects. He used rap as an escape, and appeared on Yo! MTV Raps in 1989. After selling millions of records with his own Roc-A-Fella label, Jay-Z created his own clothing line. He wed popular singer and actress Beyoncé Knowles in 2008.

SUMMARY OF EARLY LIFE IN BRIEF

Rapper Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. "He was the last of my four children," Jay-Z's mother later recalled, "the only one who didn't give me any pain when I gave birth to him, and that's how I knew he was a special child." Jay-Z's father, Adnes Reeves, left the family when Jay-Z was only 11 years old. The young rapper was raised by his mother, Gloria Carter, in Brooklyn's drug-infested Marcy Projects.

During a rough adolescence, detailed in many of his autobiographical songs, Shawn Carter dealt drugs and flirted with gun violence. He attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn, where he was a classmate of the soon-to-be-martyred rap legend Notorious B.I.G. As Jay-Z later remembered his childhood in one of his songs ("December 4th"), "I went to school, got good grades, could behave when I wanted/ But I had demons deep inside that would raise when confronted."