Year 7, Day 47

Good Morning! Today's song is Empire State Of Mind by Jay Z featuring Alicia Keys. 

Jay Z is Shawn Carter whose been active since 1988. I feel like most people know him, so this will be brief. He's released 13 albums, the first from 1996 and the most recent from 2017. He's also been involved in a couple of different films in some capacity. There are nine he's credited with, and some are a full block of music videos, acting roles, or more recently producer credits ranging from 1998 up to 2018. Not only is he successful in the industry and well known, as of 2019 he was considered the wealthiest American musician, and the fifth wealthiest African American once he became a billionaire. Alicia Keys is the stage name for Alicia Cook and has been active since 1996. She started out as a pianist, which I imagine is probably where the moniker came from (though I don't know, so don't quote me on it). She got discovered by Jeff Robinson at 13 when his brother worked with her through the Teens In Motion Organization. She has been part of a group, but went solo when it disbanded. She signed with Columbia when she 15, graduating as the valedictorian at 16. Columbia though wanted her as nothing but a mouthpiece, negating any creative drive she had, so she started the long fight to split from them. She switched to Arista Records in 1998 and that's when her career really began. Since then she's released 7 albums, the first in 2001 and the most recent from 2020. So she's still going strong. 

Peace.