3. Jay-Z: Top 15 Hip Hop Artists

True meaning of coming up from the rock, Jay Z comes in at number 3 on my list. Shawn Carter out of Brooklyn, New York started music at a young age. In the late 1980’s and the beginning of 1990’, he begin to battle rapper LL Cool J, a true pioneer in Hip Hop music. Mr. Carter boasts his music career around the 1995 with no major label to back him. He sold his music out the back of his car while creating the Roc-A-Fella Records with Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs. In 1996, Jay Z broke a distribution deal with Priority and released the Reasonable Doubt album.

Reasonable Double reached number 23 on the US Billboard 200, and was a favorite around Hip Hop neighborhoods. Until this day, this album is rated in the top 500 Greatest Album of All Time” by many Hip Hop sites. In 1997, later signed with Def Jam Records and released his next album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 which was produced by Sean Combs, owner of Bad Boy Records. Jay Z was a great storytelling artist and could tell his true-life story in a rhyme. With this album, he sold over a million copies and went certified platinum.

During 1998, Jay Z’s released one of my favorite albums of all time from Hip Hop artists. “Hard Knock Life” was like waiting up a sleeping giant. The album had so many great Hip Hop producers such as DJ Premier, Erick Sermon, Swizz Beatz, and Timberland. “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” had the urban and the projects communities going crazy because heard music on the radio that they could relate to. Carter’s sold over 7 million a copies and went 5 times platinum in the United States alone.

Shawn Carter now has all the fame and money and a bigger buzz. In 2001-02, he releases The Blueprint and The Blueprint 2 album. Both albums reach double platinum. Jay Z linked up with unknown artist at the time Kanye West to produce four tracks from The Blueprint’s project. Jay Z also won Grammy for Best Rap Album.

List of Albums

1. Reasonable Double
2. In My Lifetime, Vol. 1
3. Vol 2. Hard Knock Life
4. Vol 3. Life and Times of S. Carter
5. The Dynasty: Roc La Familia
6. The Blueprint
7. The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse
8. The Black Album
9. Kingdom Come
10. American Gangster
11. The Blueprint 4
12. Magna Carta Holy Grail
13. The Best if Both Worlds featuring R. Kelly
14. Unfinished Business featuring R. Kelly
15. Watch the Throne featuring Kanye West
16. Jay-Z: Unplugged

“Song Cry”, “Can’t Know the Hustle”, “No Hook”, “Where I’m From”, “Nigga What, Nigga Who”, “Moment of Clarity” “Takeover”, “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”, are some of favorites tracks from Jay Z.

Watch JAY Z Big Pimpin’ featuring UGK, Pimp C and Bun B.