Jay-Z is an American rapper, record executive, and media proprietor whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter.
Jay-Z is one of the most acclaimed rappers of all time. He has won 21 Grammy Awards, sold over 100 million records, and held the record for the most albums by a solo artist to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard 200.
He is married to the iconic singer Beyoncé, and they have three children. 'Reasonable Doubt' was Jay-Z's first album, and it received rave reviews from the audience and critics.
He is regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop artists in history. Jay-Z is an inspiration who has helped millions with quotes inspired by the events in his life and career.
Best Jay-Z Quotes
Here are the best Jay-Z quotes to motivate you and help you deal with the fear of failure.
“Only God can judge me, so I’m gone; either love me or leave me alone.” - 'Decoded', Enhanced Edition, 2010
“Everyone needs a chance to evolve.” - 'Decoded', Enhanced Edition, 2010
“Only two things can get you through this—that’s patience and persistence.”
“A wise man told me don’t argue with fools 'cause people from a distance can’t tell who is who'.” - ‘Takeover’
“A wise man once told me luck isn’t some mystical energy that dances around the universe randomly bestowing people with satisfaction and joy; you create your own luck.” - 'Fade To Black', 2004.
“As kids, we didn’t complain about being poor; we talked about how rich we were going to be and made moves to get the lifestyle we aspired to by any means we could. And as soon as we had a little money, we were eager to show it.” - 'Decoded'.
“Do me a favor. Don’t do me no favors. I handle mine.” - ‘Thank You’
“Don’t tell me what was said about me. Tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you.”
“Everything evens up, you just wait. Even a garbage can get a steak. You are not even a garbage can, you have faith!”
“I come from a place where you had to keep your word, where people would stick with you no matter what—I just tried to be a man of my word.”
“I couldn’t even think about wanting to be something else: I wouldn’t let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn’t stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of keeping sane.”
“I have a lot of happiness, but that doesn’t mean that the two, ‘money and happiness’ equate to each other—they’re not tied to each other.”
“I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can.”
“I’m hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter. That’s what this world is about. You look at someone like Gandhi, and he glowed. Martin Luther King glowed. Muhammad Ali glows. I think that’s from being bright all the time and trying to be brighter.”
“If the beat is time, flow is what we do with that time, how we live through it. The beat is everywhere, but every life has to find its own flow.”
“If y’all can’t already see, I ain’t worried about ya’ll, ‘cause I’m already me.”
“Instincts are really important in business. I didn’t go to any business school 101 or anything like that, I pretty much just followed my instincts.”
“It just got to a point where it was, like, ‘Make this decision because this is something you really love, and you love to do. It’s time to really focus on and then get serious about it; give it your all.’ And once I did that, it was no looking back from there.”
“It’s hilarious a lot of times. You have a conversation with someone, and he’s like, ‘You speak so well!’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? Do you understand that’s an insult?”
“Leave a mark they can’t erase, neither space nor time.”
“May the best of your today’s be the worst of your tomorrow’s.”
“Money and power don’t change you; they just further expose your true self.”
“Most people that were successful growing up where I was from never came back. So there was never a dialogue on ‘how did you do it’ ‘what happened’ there was no mentoring program—no going back teaching a person a trade or what you do—so that’s why I figured I’d started the school because education is the answer.”
“Only thing that's on my mind (What's up?)
Is who's gon' run this town tonight (Ah, what's up?)” - ‘Run This Town’
“People look at you strange, say you changed
Like you worked that hard to stay the same.” - 'Most Kingz', 2010
“The truth about talent is, first, that it’s God-given. When you want to unleash that talent, your mind lets it go. Because it’s there. You have to have that belief that when you draw from that well of talent that it’s going to be there.”
“They say you can’t turn a bad girl good, but once a good girl’s gone bad, she’s gone forever.” - ‘The Blueprint (2001)’
“They say you put the right artist with the right track in the studio, leave the door cracked, and let God in.” - ‘Fade To Black’
“They talk. We live. Who cares what they say.”
“Truth is you don’t need some external demon to take control of you to turn you into a raging, money-obsessed sociopath; you only need to let loose the demons you already have inside of you.” - 'Decoded'.
“You have to find your genius-level talent and then apply it in a way that supports that genius-level talent.”
“Everyday hit every wave, like I’m Hawaiian. I don’t surf the net, no I’ve never been on MySpace, too busy letting my voice vibrate, carving out my space in this world.” - 'Beach Chair'.
Inspirational Jay-Z Quotes
These Jay-Z quotes about life will help you gain a different perspective on life.
“Life is about balance; you have to have time for work and time for play. If you don’t allow these two things to co-exist, you have an imbalance. ”
“A poet's mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.” -'Decoded'
“Whenever inspiration won’t find you, you have to find it.”
“All I got is dreams. Nobody else believes. Nobody else can see. Nobody else but me.” - ‘History’
“Belief in oneself and knowing who you are, I mean, that’s the foundation for everything great.”
“I believe that the energy you put out in the world; you get back.”
“I believe you can speak things into existence.” - 'Decoded'.
“I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.”
“I’m inspired by life, and all sorts of things. You could say something right now and it would inspire me to write a song.”
“I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of not trying.” - 'Beach Chair'.
“Jealousy's a weak emotion.” - ‘Some People Hate’
“Life is all there is. And if that’s true, then we have to really live it — we have to take it for everything it has and ‘die enormous’ instead of ‘living dormant.’” - ‘Decoded’
“Life is for living, not living uptight. See ya somewhere up in the sky.”
“Rap for me is like making movies, telling stories, and getting the emotions of the songs through in just as deep a way. And I grew up in rap and movies the same way.”
“Remind yourself, nobody’s built like you. You design yourself.”
“We change people through conversation, not through censorship.” - 'Decoded'.
“You make your first album, you make some money, and you feel like you still have to show face, like ‘I still go to the projects.’ I’m like, why? Your job is to inspire people from your neighborhood to get out. You grew up there. What makes you think it’s so cool?”
Jay-Z Quotes About Success
Here are some Jay-Z quotes about success to help you gain the confidence you need for life. Learn how to approach success
“I believe excellence is being able to perform at a high level over and over.”
“I love what I do, and when you love what you do, you want to be the best at it.”
“I try to work with brands that have some sort of partnerships there. I don’t do one-off deals but try to work on partnerships as opposed to one-off endorsement deals.”
“I will not lose, for even in defeat, there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me.”
“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man!”
“If people don’t hate you, you’re probably not doing very big things.”
“Son said, ‘How’d you fly?’ I said, ‘From not being afraid of trying to fly.’” - ‘Beach Chair’
“Successful people have a bigger fear of failure than people who’ve never done anything because if you haven’t been successful, then you don’t know how it feels to lose it all.”
“The genius thing that we did was we didn’t give up, we didn’t say ‘Because these guys…’ we used that ‘What do they know’ approach, and didn’t give up.”
“The responsibility is to keep pushing it forward and not relying on the same old gimmicks. You have to push it forward.”
“The story of the rapper and the story of the hustler is like rap itself, two kinds of rhythm working together, having a conversation with each other, doing more together than they could do apart.” - ‘Decoded’
“Those who are successful overcome their fears and take action. Those who aren’t submit to their fears and live with regrets.”
“We all have the same fear—the fear of failure. We all have the fear of failure. As someone successful, the weight of all that you’ve done is on you.”
“We hustle out of a sense of hopelessness. Sort of a desperation. Through that desperation, we become addicted. But we feel we have nothing to list. So, we offer you, well, we offer our lives. What do you bring to the table?”
“You can want success all you want, but to get it, you can’t falter. You can’t slip, you can’t sleep. One eye open, for real, and forever.”
“You learn more in failure than you ever do in success."
Jay-Z Quotes About Family
Jay-Z quotes about family are inspired by his relationship with Beyoncé and are something to live by. Find some Jay-Z quotes about family philosophy below.
“When you’re truly in love, you will never have anything to hide.”
“If it’s you and me against the world, then so be it.” - 'Magna Carta Holy Grail'
