He was a smart boy who lost his way at 11 when his father walked out on the family. Nobody calls me Shawn except my grandmother." He was nicknamed Jay-Z, a riff on jazzy and Brooklyn's J/Z subway, when he was a kid, tapping out raps on his mother's kitchen table. She always tells me, 'You just make me prouder and prouder every day.' Ahaha! She tells me that quite often."ĭoes she still call him Shawn? "No, she calls me Jay. His laugh, like his voice, is surprisingly high-pitched – relaxed, confident, likable. Does his mum ever come up to the 39th floor and swivel in his chair? He giggles. Huge corporate buildings don't tend to bring out the sentimental in me, but it's quite an experience, eyeballing the New York skyline with this self-made master of the universe. It was a typical Jay-Z move: he paid Dash $22m and, two years later, sold Rocawear for $204m in a deal that allowed him to remain CEO. A year later, he bought out his business partner Damon Dash's share in clothes company Rocawear. His office is presidential and full of photographs – of heroes ( Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Muhammad Ali), supermodels shot by Herb Ritts ( Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford) and family (his mother, older sister, Beyoncé off duty). Not bad for a lad who started his working life at 12 selling crack. Forbes estimated Jay-Z's current wealth at £450m. Forbes magazine recently featured him on its cover alongside Warren Buffett, the third wealthiest person in the world. Oh yes, and he's married to Beyoncé Knowles, the most successful female artist of the 2000s. And there's the chain of all-American sports bars, the clothing line, Rocawear, the beauty products, the basketball team he part-owns, the beer giant he has a stake in. The 40-year-old is also an extraordinarily successful businessman – former CEO of Def Jam Recordings, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, CEO of management, music publishing and entertainment company Roc Nation. He has sold more than 50m albums, won 10 Grammys and had more number one albums than any solo artist on America's Billboard chart. Jay-Z, born Shawn Corey Carter, is one of the world's most successful rappers. Behind a desk, Jay-Z twirls in a leather chair, stands up and greets me. Sit on the window ledge and you can virtually tweak the top of the Empire State Building. An elevator races to the 39th floor – the offices of Roc Nation and as high as you can go. ![]() At the front, the address is printed big and bold and very gold. ![]() T he American flag is flying proudly at 1411 Broadway.
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