Deep in the heart of Jay-Z, he knew that rap offered him the best opportunity to get out of the drug business. He said "Rap was my way out, the only talent I had, and my shot of making something of myself. And it was legal!"
In an interview with NPR, Jay shared how he began putting down rhymes: "I would run into the corner store, the bodega, and just grab a paper bag or buy juice — anything just to get a paper bag. And I'd write the words on the paper bag and stuff these ideas in my pocket until I got back. Then I would transfer them into the notebook. As I got further and further away from home and my notebook, I had to memorize these rhymes — longer and longer and longer. By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn't need pen or paper — my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape"
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known by his stage name Jay-Z (sometimes styled Jay Z or JAY Z), is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in America. In 2012, Forbes estimated Carter's net worth at nearly $500 million. He has sold approximately 75 million records worldwide from all of his albums, while receiving 17 Grammy Awards for his musical work, and numerous additional nominations. Consistently ranked as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was ranked number one by MTV in their list of The Greatest MCs of All-Time in 2006. Three of his albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996), The Blueprint (2001), and The Black Album (2003), are considered landmarks in the genre with all of them featured in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Jay-Z went back to selling drugs after his recording job with Jaz-O, but music was becoming his main focus. He described this in an interview cited in Jay-Z... and the Roc-A-Fella Dynasty.
"Ironically, using memorization to hold on to my lines is the way I develop the writing style I use today. No pen, paper, or paper bags needed. Just point out the track and I'm all over it....and yet... I also became fully committed to putting my hustle down. I kept moving further south-from Trenton, NJ, to Maryland, and finally to Virginia. I spent less and less time in New York, but when I did come h ome, I would go to parties and jump on the mike, freestyling here and there."
Knowing that selling drugs would never be enough to get him and his family out of the projects, Jay-Z constantly worked on honing his craft-his rhymes, his flow, everything that went into the technique of rapping. He also know from the beginning that the subjecct of his raps would be his life and the lives of others like him living in poverty in the project. According to Jay-Z... and the Roc-A-Fella Records Dynasty, he know that his goal as a rapper would be "to have a conversation with the world...I'm telling the world my plight. I was speaking about the people and the neighborhoods and mentality of someone who comes from nothing. ..I didn't want to sell drugs. I want a better life."
