"I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of not trying," Jay-Z professes in "Beach Song." For Jay-Z, "not trying" means more than not producing music. For Jay-Z, "trying" means taking big risks, it means knocking down barriers, it means that, in a society that too often rewards dishonesty, you stay true to your roots.

Raised in the Marcy Houses projects of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Jay-Z's childhood was a struggle. When he was a teenager, a drug epidemic swept through urban New York like a plague. Life was tremendously hard for any young man or woman simply trying to survive.

Many could not escape a life of addiction and crime; those who survived would be forever changed.

Suffering doesn't necessarily make you stronger, but in the case of Jay-Z and other hip hop artists like him, their frustration and anger served as the raw materials for creating something lasting and meaningful. They created a music that would speak to, and speak for, millions of America's voiceless poor.

The hip hop revolution officially began in 1982 when Bronx natives Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released "The Message." Its lyrics spoke of a population cut off from opportunity, of the anger and frustration that artists like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye had been singing about in their hit 1970s songs “Living for The City" and "What's Going On?"

But the lyrics of "The Message," spoken instead of sung, conveyed an anger that could not be overlooked. There was no pretty melody, softening the blunt power of the words. "Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge," was not so much a threat as it was a rallying cry.

In 1984, Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin launched the Def Jam Recording label and a new chapter in the history of urban America began to be written. Def Jam recording artists Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy were the foundation upon which a new empire was constructed. These groups would tell the truth about their world as they saw it. Soon enough, truth telling would become infectious.

Young men and women all over the country would be adding their voices to the growing chorus.

Shawn Carter had always been a musical child. His mother, Gloria, recalled him banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table and driving everyone in the apartment crazy. When she finally broke down and bought him a boombox, Shawn began writing lyrics and freestyling. People in the neighborhood, respectful of his skills, called him "Jazzy," the name that evolved into Jay-Z. Gaining respect as a rapper in Bed-Stuy, a city that produced such hip hop greats as the Notorious B.I.G. and Mos Def may have been harder than anywhere else on the planet.

Jay-Z's was one of many voices battling to be heard.

By the early 1990s, Jay-Z was appearing on stage with established hip hop talents and having rap battles with LL Cool J. He won rap battle after rap battle, emerging as one of New York's hottest young MCs. He started appearing on albums released by other New York rappers such as Big Daddy Kane and Ja Rule.

In 1996, Jay-Z released his debut album, Reasonable Doubt. The album established him as a major force in hip hop. Then, while grieving over the loss of his high school friend and hip hop peer, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z recorded and released In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.The album went platinum and Jay-Z became more than one of the country's biggest hip hop acts; he became one of the biggest music acts period.

Jay-Z cannot be easily defined. "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business... man," he's proclaimed. His career as a rapper, record producer, clothing designer, and part owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets certainly backs up that assertion. Jay-Z is a true urban entrepreneur, one of the most dramatic rags-to-riches stories imaginable.

His story is one of success in the face of struggle and loss. But it is also a story of ambition and innovation, of swagger and pride. Just like the music he helped develop, Jay-Z continues to evolve.