Shawn Corey Carter, known by his stage name, JAY-Z, is an American rapper and businessman. He is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, having sold more than 100 million records while receiving over 20 Grammy Awards for his music.

MTV ranked him the "Greatest MC of all time" in 2006. Rolling Stone ranked three of his albums — Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album — among The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2017, Forbes estimated his net worth at $810 million, making him the second-richest hip-hop artist in the US.

Jay-Z owns the New York 40/40 Club sports bar and is the co-creator of the clothing line Rocawear. He is the former president of Def Jam Recordings, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, and the founder of the entertainment company Roc Nation.

He also founded the sports agency Roc Nation Sports and is a certified NBA and MLB sports agent. As an artist, he holds the record for most #1 albums by a solo artist on the US Billboard 200 with 14. He has also had four #1's on the Billboard Hot 100, one of which ("Empire State of Mind") he was the lead artist on.

In 2009, he was ranked the tenth-most successful artist of the 2000s by Billboard as well as the fifth top solo male artist and fourth top rapper behind Eminem, Nelly, and 50 Cent. He was also ranked the 88th-greatest artist of all time by Rolling Stone.

In early June 2017, posters were displayed in New York City and Los Angeles, as well as banner ads on the Internet promoting a TIDAL-related project titled 4:44. A teaser ad was aired during the NBA Finals on June 7 of that year, featuring actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danny Glover in a one-minute video, ending in "4:44 – 6/30/17, Exclusively on Tidal".

On June 18, 2017, the project was confirmed to be a new Jay-Z album, and a clip featuring a song titled "Adnis" was posted on Sprint's YouTube page. Jay-Z married singer Beyoncé in 2008. The couple, who have three children together: Blue Ivy, Rumi, and Sir, have an estimated combined net worth of over $1 billion.