Since his debut in 1996, Sean Jay-Z Carter has become the undisputed face of hip-hop. His music continues to revolutionize the genre with each new album he releases. Hova didnt become a household name until two years later, but has now become one of the most influential and important figures in not only rap music, but also pop culture. It will truly be sad day when this phenomenal talent stops making music, and the next generation of listeners will have insignificant and irrelevant lyrics screamed at them by terrible rappers like Soulja Boy. Thankfully it doesnt look like Jigga is going anywhere anytime soon. Jay-Z has used his ever-growing wealth to expand into all different kinds of areas. He is constantly making great decisions that make him more of a strategic businessman then just a rapper from Brooklyn. He created Rocawear, a very successful clothing brand. He has opened a chain of high-end sports bars called the 40/40 Club. He made a multimillion-dollar deal with Live Nation and created a new company called RocNation, which deals with both music and sports. He was part owner of the New Jersey Nets and was responsible for moving them to Brooklyn and redesigning the teams look. He then sold the majority of his shares of the Nets to become a player agent. He wrote a best selling book called
Decoded, in which he took some of his most popular lyrics and told the stories that that inspired them. Recently Jay-Z produced the music for Baz Larhmans
The Great Gatsby, and has also signed on to produce a remake of Broadways
Annie. During the NBA Finals, a Samsung Galaxy commercial was played featuring Jay-Z amongst the worlds best producers recording new music in a studio. In the commercial, he announced that July 7th will be the release of his new album,
Magna Carta Holy Grail. The first one million Samsung Galaxy owners who download the exclusive app will receive the album on July 4th; 72 hours before everyone else. There is no denying the influence that Jay-Z has had on pop culture over the last seventeen years. This list only ranks the solo released and does not include any collaborations that Jay-Z has done over the years, which includes his last album
Watch the Throne that he made with Kanye West. While there actually isnt a bad Jay-Z album, this list will try to rank every solo album he has released from worst to best. Tracks labeled bold are the most notable from each album.