110+ Jay-Z Quotes On Success, Business And Friendship

Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur, and record producer. He is one of the most successful hip-hop artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. He is also the founder of the entertainment company Roc Nation, and has won 21 Grammy Awards throughout his career. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Jay-Z on success, business, friendship.

Top 10 Jay-Z Quotes

1. You can pay for school, but you can't buy class
2. Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.
3. Don't tell me what was said about me. Tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you.
4. Be true to yourself- and keep things simple. People complicate things
5. Males shouldnt be jealous. Thats a female trait.
6. I'm hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter.
7. Everybody look at you strange, say you changed Like you work that hard to stay the same.
8. Niggas pray and pray on my downfall, But every time I hit the ground I bounce up like round ball
9. Life is a gift, love opens it up.
10. Only God can judge me so I'm gone, either love me or leave me alone.

Jay-Z Image Quotes

Life is a gift, love opens it up. — Jay-Z

Only God can judge me so I'm gone, either love me or leave me alone. — Jay-Z

Leave a mark they can't erase, neither space nor time. — Jay-Z

Only he without sin can tell me if my means justify my ends. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Short Quotes

• Leave a mark they can't erase, neither space nor time.
• Only he without sin can tell me if my means justify my ends.
• I'd rather die enormous than live dormant.
• May the best of your today's be the worst of your tomorrow's
• Belief in oneself and knowing who you are, I mean, that’s the foundation for everything great.
• All I got is dreams. Nobody else believes. Nobody else can see. Nobody else but me.
• I will not lose, for even in defeat/There's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me
• They talk. We live. Who cares what they say?
• You can't turn a bad girl good, but once a good girls' gone bad, she's gone forever.
• By far for me the most important thing is inspiration.

Jay-Z Quotes About Success

I'm not afraid of dying I'm afraid of not trying — Jay-Z

Those who are successful overcome their fears and take action. Those who aren’t submit to their fears and live with regrets. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

Hip-hop is more about attaining wealth. People respect success. They respect big. They don't even have to like your music. If you're big enough, people are drawn to you. — Jay-Z

You learn more in failure than you ever do in success — Jay-Z

I had success. I had a number one record. I had a number one album. I have to make this kind of record again or else I'm going to lose it all. That's how you end up making the same song over and over. — Jay-Z

Now success was like lust, she's good to the touch, She's good for the moment, but she's never enough — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About Business

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. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

There are a lot of things that I lived in the street that helped me in the music business… I knew what characters not to have around me. — Jay-Z

What people do in their own homes is their business, and you can choose to love whoever you love. That's their business. It's no different than discriminating against blacks. It's discrimination, plain and simple. — Jay-Z

The fans get to see you, and you can do great by your record if you have a great performance or a great night there. That's all part of the business. But at their core, awards shows are not really a sincere thing. For a lot of years, the artists had to pay to play their own set. — Jay-Z

Whoever said that artists shouldn't pay attention to their business was probably someone w/their hand in some artist's pocket. — Jay-Z

I am not a businessman. I am a business, man. — Jay-Z

My thing is related to who I am as a person. The clothes are an extension of me. The music is an extension of me. All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true to whatever I'm feeling at the time, whatever direction I'm heading in. And hopefully, everyone follows. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About Love

When you’re truly in love. You will never have anything to hide. — Jay-Z

I love what I do, and when you love what you do, you want to be the best at it. — Jay-Z

I love you so, But why I love you, I'll never know. — Jay-Z

My tears is tatted, my rag in my pocket / Im just looking for love, I know somebody got it — Jay-Z

I love that because that's what I'm supposed to be doing - whether it's accepted b everybody or not. I'm supposed to be pushing that envelope and trying new things. And people are supposed to say, Hov, you might have went too far. — Jay-Z

Nine to five is how ya survive, I ain't trying to survive I'm trying to live it to the limit and love it alive — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About Money

You can put a new shirt on your back, slide a fresh chain around your neck, and accumulate all the money and power in the world, but at the end of the day those are just layers. Money and power don't change you, they just further expose your true self. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

Money and power don’t change you, they just further expose your true self. — Jay-Z

The more society treats drug addiction as a crime, the more money drug dealers will make “relieving” the suffering of the addicts. — Jay-Z

[T]he 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. — Jay-Z

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

Jay-Z Quotes About Life

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.’ — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

Life is for living, not living uptight, see ya somewhere up in the sky. — Jay-Z

Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be And so I put this on my life Nobody or nothing will ever come between us And I promise I'll give my life — Jay-Z

Artists can have greater access to reality; they can see patterns and details and connections that other people, distracted by the blur of life, might miss. Just sharing that truth can be a very powerful thing. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

Your future is ahead of you. Imagine the notion of the past fifteen years of your life being a blip in your story. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

When the TV version of Annie came on, I was drawn to it. It was the struggle of this poor kid in this environment and how her life changed. It immediately resonated. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About Change

Hip-hop has done so much for racial relations, and I don't think it's given the proper credit. It has changed America immensely. I'm going to make a very bold statement: Hip-hop has done more than any leader, politician, or anyone to improve race relations. — Jay-Z

People look at you strange, say you changed. Like you worked that hard to stay the same. — Jay-Z

Ain't nothin' wrong with the aim, just gotta change the target. — Jay-Z

No matter where you go you are what you are player and you can try to change but that's just the top layer man you was who you was before you got here — Jay-Z

We change people through conversation, not through censorship. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About Rap

They say a midget standing on a giant's shoulders can see much further than the giant. So I got the whole rap world on my shoulders, they trying to see further than I am. — Jay-Z

If skills sold truth be told I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense (But I did five Mil) I ain't been rhyming like Common since. — Jay-Z

Put me anywhere on God's green earth, I'll triple my worth. Motherf--. I, will, not, lose. — Jay-Z

I'm a hustler, baby; I sell water to a well! — Jay-Z

Screamin' 'Carpe Diem!' until I'm a Dead Poet. — Jay-Z

Rap has been a path between cultures in the best tradition of popular music. — Jay-Z

You could name practically any problem in the hood and there'd be a rap song for you. — Jay-Z

Racism is taught in the home. We agree on that? Well, it's very hard to teach racism to a teenager who's listening to rap music and who idolizes, say, Snoop Dogg. It's hard to say, 'That guy is less than you.' The kid is like, 'I like that guy, he's cool. How is he less than me? — Jay-Z

Stop screamin', you know the demon said it's best to die, And even if Jehovah witness, bet he'll never testify, D'Evils. — Jay-Z

Primarily I see myself as so much more than a rapper. I really believe I am the voice for a lot of people who don’t have that microphone or who can’t rap. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About Hip-hop

Got some, dirt on my shoulder, could you brush it off for me? — Jay-Z

I can think of no one more relevant and credible in the hip-hop community to build upon Def Jam's fantastic legacy and move the company into its next groundbreaking era. — Jay-Z

As fate would have it, Jay's status appears To be at an all-time high, perfect time to say goodbye When I come back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5. — Jay-Z

Ex-D-boy, used to park my Beamer Now look at me, I can park in my own arena — Jay-Z

Can I hit it in the morning with out giving you have of my dough? — Jay-Z

Wherever I go, I bring the culture with me, so that they can understand that it's attainable. I didn't do it any other way than through hip-hop. — Jay-Z

I never ask for nothin' I don't demand of myself. Honesty, loyalty, friends and then wealth — Jay-Z

I got this black chick, she don't know how to act Always talkin' out her neck, makin' her fingers snap She like, "Listen Jigga Man, I don't care if you rap You better - R-E-S-P-E-C-T me — Jay-Z

I gave you prophecy on my first joint, and y'all lamed out Didn't really appreciate it, 'til the second one came out — Jay-Z

Which is the other reason hip-hop is controversial: People don't bother trying to get it. The problem isn't in the rap or the rapper or the culture. The problem is that so many people don't even know how to listen to the music. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About People

I've never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I've always wanted to stay true to myself, and I've managed to do that. People have to accept that. — Jay-Z

If people don’t hate you, you’re probably not doing very big things. — Jay-Z

It's always been most important for me to figure out "my space" rather than trying to check out what everyone else is up to, minute by minute. Technology is making it easier to connect to other people, but maybe harder to keep connected to yourself-- and that's essential for any artist, I think. — Jay-Z

So many people that I've seen can't get clean water. It's a crime. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

I’ve never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. — Jay-Z

I'm gonna fight, and I'm gonna make something out of nothing. That's pretty much the American dream. So, for me, the realization that I could speak to people like that came first on a small scale. Then it just started happening. I started having this vibration. — Jay-Z

Growing up, politics never trickled down to the areas we come from. But people from Obama's camp, and Obama himself, reached out to me and asked for my help on the campaign. We've sat and had dinner, and we've spoken on the phone. He's a very sharp guy. Very charming. Very cool. — Jay-Z

I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself, and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that. — Jay-Z

When people say stuff like, "Oh, that's soft rock. I don't listen to that," I find that elitist. It's music-racist. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes About Music

People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap and it's good water. But they're okay paying for it. It's just the mindset right now. — Jay-Z

When I listen to great music, the first thing I wonder is what people were saying when this came out of the speakers in the studio. I want to know what happened when they played it and said, "This is the one!" — Jay-Z

For me, the challenge is just making great albums, because talent - and writing in general - is not tangible. There's no expiration date on it. At the same time, you might wake up tomorrow and be unable to write music. — Jay-Z

All these ways we classify things as R&B and hip-hop and rock... It's bullshit. It's all music. If you put yourself in that box, then you won't be able to hear that it's all music at its soul. — Jay-Z

Everyone who makes music is a good collaborator at their foundation because in order to make music, you have to connect to it in a way that other people can't. — Jay-Z

I think the consumption of music is at an all-time high. But I think the ways that record companies are trying to monetize it is just all over the place. At the end of the day, music is in the clouds. Before, you could hold it, look at it, turn it around. Now, it's just in the air. — Jay-Z

We create music to express ourselves and when the world relates, that's a beautiful thing. We're all trading off each other's culture, so no matter what lines you put--country indie rock, rap, we're all somehow gonna find a way to come together. — Jay-Z

If I was to stop making music tomorrow doesn't mean suddenly there is this gap. You don't get elected. The people decide where you are. Whether I'm here or not, if they want you to be at the top then the people will move me out the way. — Jay-Z

I'm a person that works off of music. I let the music dictate the direction. — Jay-Z

I have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop, Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella. Reid and Universal Music Group have given me the opportunity to manage the companies I have contributed to my whole career. I feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community. — Jay-Z

Jay-Z Famous Quotes And Sayings

Life is a gift, love opens it up. — Jay-Z

Only God can judge me so I'm gone, either love me or leave me alone. — Jay-Z

Only he without sin can tell me if my means justify my ends. — Jay-Z

Be fluid. Treat each project differently. Be water, man. The best style is no style. Because styles can be figured out. And when you have no style they can't figure you out. — Jay-Z

Whenever inspiration won’t find you, you have to find it. — Jay-Z

If it’s you and me against the world, then so be it. — Jay-Z

It’s a brand new world. Let me show you. — Jay-Z

Their gunnin' for me, want to see me fall, you know my story, been through it all, times I felt like dyin', but I ain't cryin', what didn't kill me, makes me strong as iron. — Jay-Z

Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama's running so we all can fly. — Jay-Z

I went through hell, I’m expecting heaven. — Jay-Z

I believe everybody in the world is born with genius-level talent. Apply yourself to whatever you’re genius at and you can do anything in the world. — Jay-Z

Men lie, women lie, numbers dont — Jay-Z

I use a lot of double meanings. I hide 'em like Easter eggs. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

Everything evens up, you just wait, Even a garbage can gets a steak, You ain't even a garbage can, you have faith! — Jay-Z

Jealousy’s a weak emotion. — Jay-Z

I thought I would be more inspired to have all these new feelings to talk about, but I really just want to hang out with my daughter. — Jay-Z

[T]he truth is that drug addicts have a disease. It only takes a short time in the streets to realize that out-of-control addiction is a medical problem, not a form of recreational or criminal behavior. And the more society treats drug addiction as a crime, the more money drug dealers will make "relieving" the suffering of the addicts. — Jay-Z

I believe you can speak things into existence. — Jay-Z

I believe excellence is being able to perform at a high level over and over. — Jay-Z

No matter where you go, you are what you are playa. — Jay-Z

Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

If ya’ll can’t already see, I ain’t worried about ya’ll, ‘cause I’m already me. — Jay-Z

You know the type: loud as a motorbike but wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight. — Jay-Z

Do me a favor. Don’t do me no favors. I handle mine. — Jay-Z

I'm trying to tell the story in the most clear, concise, and truthful way, taking those everyday words and phrases and capturing them in a way that they become something else. — Jay-Z

Gotta keep it peace like a buddhist Nobody gonna Wesley snipe me It's less than likely, Move back, Let I breathe Jedi knight, The more space I get the better I write, (Oh) Never I write, but, if, ever I write, I need the space to say whatever I like. — Jay-Z

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. — Jay-Z

I think relationships are broken up because of the media. — Jay-Z

The most amazing feeling I feel Words can't describe what I'm feeling for real Maybe I paint the sky blue My greatest creation was you. — Jay-Z

Used to rock a throwback ballin on the corner, now I rock tailored suit lookin' like a owner. — Jay-Z

I’m like a dog, I never speak, but I understand. — Jay-Z

That's why this generation is the least racist generation ever. You see it all the time. Go to any club. People are intermingling, hanging out, having fun, enjoying the same music. Hip-hop is not just in the Bronx anymore. It's worldwide. Everywhere you go, people are listening to hip-hop and partying together. Hip-hop has done that. — Jay-Z

I jack, I rob, I sin. Aw man, I'm Jackie Robinson 'Cept when I run base, I dodge the pen — Jay-Z

It was a weird mix of emotions. One day, your best friend could be killed. The day before, you could be celebrating him getting a brand-new bike. — Jay-Z

I get my by any means on, whenever there's a drought get your umbrellas out because that's when I brainstorm. — Jay-Z

One of the reasons inequality gets so deep in this country is that everyone wants to be rich. That's the American ideal. Poor people don't like talking about poverty because even though they might live in the projects surrounded by other poor people and have, like, ten dollars in the bank, they don't like to think of themselves as poor. — Jay-Z

I came, I saw, I conquered From record sales to sold out concerts. — Jay-Z

You put the right artist on the right track in the studio and leave the door open to let God in. — Jay-Z

I grew up in Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, and my mom and pop had an extensive record collection, so Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and all of those sounds and souls of Motown filled the house. — Jay-Z

The day Obama got elected, the gangsta became less relevant. — Jay-Z

I think Lil Wayne is extremely talented. I think he's one of the most talented ones out there. — Jay-Z

I'm far from being god, but I work god damn hard. — Jay-Z

Life Lessons by Jay-Z

1. Jay-Z's career is a testament to the power of hard work and dedication; he has achieved massive success through sheer determination and a willingness to take risks.
2. His success also demonstrates the importance of staying true to yourself and your values; he has managed to remain relevant and successful for decades by staying true to his own unique style and vision.
3. Jay-Z's career also serves as an example of the power of collaboration; he has worked with a variety of artists and producers to create some of his most iconic work.