

Watch the Throne, a collaborative album with American rapper Kanye West, followed in August 2011 and became Jay-Z's eleventh number-one album in the United States. The album included the international hits 'Run This Town', 'Empire State of Mind' and 'Young Forever'. With the release of The Blueprint 3 in September 2009, Jay-Z surpassed Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most number-one albums on the Billboard 200. The concept album American Gangster followed in 2007 and continued his streak of number-one albums in the United States. įollowing a period of dormancy, Jay-Z became president of Def Jam Recordings in December 2004 and resumed his rap career two years later with the release of Kingdom Come, which peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and was certified 2x Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. The albums included hit singles such as 'Big Pimpin' and 'I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)' and featured several guest appearances from artists signed to Roc-A-Fella Records.

Carter and The Dynasty: Roc La Familia – followed in December 1999 and October 2000 respectively. 2 was certified five times platinum by the RIAA and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album in 1999. The album featured the international hits 'Can I Get A.' and 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)', which both reached top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100.

Hard Knock Life was released in September 1998 and became his first number-one album in the United States. 1 (1997), which saw Jay-Z collaborating with producers such as Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs and Teddy Riley, peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and earned a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its singles included 'Dead Presidents', 'Ain't No Nigga' and 'Can't Knock the Hustle', all of which reached the top ten on the BillboardHot Rap Songs chart. The album peaked at number twenty-three on the United States Billboard 200 record chart and has since been recognized as a seminal work of the hip hop genre. Jay-Z later founded Roc-A-Fella Records with close friends Damon Dash and Kareem 'Biggs' Burke and released his debut studio album Reasonable Doubt in June 1996. Jay-Z began his music career in the 1980s, building a reputation as a fledgling rapper in his hometown of Brooklyn and collaborating with his mentor and fellow rapper Jaz-O.
