In honor of Jay-Z's 50th birthday, fans all across the globe flooded social media with warm messages of love and support.
The hashtag #HOV50 began to trend early in the morning on Twitter on Wednesday as a result of the many well wishes from the longtime rappers' fans.
Fans opened up on some of their most memorable moments involving the music mogul—whose birth name is Shawn Carter but is commonly referred to by fans as Hov, short for Hova. They also posted messages of the many ways Jay-Z has inspired them, including with hundreds of photos, gifs and video clips of him in action.
Many people used the Brooklyn native's birthday to reflect on his work over the last three decades, listing their favorite albums, songs and guest features from the rapper.
Album rankings weren't the only way fans recognized Jay-Z on his 50th birthday. Several people took to Twitter to commemorate the award-winning lyricist by sharing their favorite verses ever rapped by him. Classic Jay-Z lines from chart-toppers like "Hard Knock Life," "Song Cry," "Say Hello," and his guest feature on Kanye West's "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" were spotted on Twitter timelines.
“I’m not a business man, I’m a business man!”
— TGubs 🌍 (@TGubs) December 4, 2019
Jay-z set the bar higher for all of us. #hov50 pic.twitter.com/3kBOg2Y24d
Meanwhile, some fans said they'd celebrate Jay-Z's birthday by listening to his lengthy discography all day long.
Jay-Z made listening to his catalog a whole lot easier for some of his fans when he re-released his entire catalog of music again on Spotify.
“God forgive me for my brash delivery
— ✨Very_BeaArthur✨ (@KindaSyds) December 4, 2019
But I remember vividly
What these streets did to me
So picture me
Letting these clowns nit pick at me” #HOV50
The Roc Nation founder removed much of his work from the platform in April 2017 to the dismay of many loyal listeners just ahead of the release of his latest album, 4:44.
At the time the move seemed like a ploy to get fans to subscribe to TIDAL, the music streaming service he owns and operates. Now, Spotify users will get to listen to all of Jay-Z's albums and songs ranging from his 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt and so-called career retirement project The Black Album in 2003, his 2011 Watch the Throne collaboration album with West and several other staples.
Since he first emerged on the rap scene in the 1990s, fans have admired and praised Jay-Z for his many punchlines, thought-provoking lyrics and masterful storytelling. A natural wordsmith, he has kept listeners fascinated and moved with his ability to flow over a beat with grace and pizzaz—not to mention the fact that he creates hit after hit without writing his lyrics down.
From U Don't Know, off the first Blueprint.
— Raphael Wilson (@089968Raph) December 4, 2019
"Momma ain't raised no fool, put me anywhere on God's green earth, I'll triple my worth.
"I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in hell, I am a hustler baby, I'll sell water to a whale"... #JayZ #Hov50 #Hot97 #EbroInTheMorning pic.twitter.com/kKiFtzCYyw
It's a long-known fact Jay-Z doesn't write his albums but rather hits the studio with a few words already in mind before he jumps on a track. That habit sparked a number of younger singers and rappers following in his footsteps by not pre-writing lyrics to their songs.
"It just felt better [the way I do it now]," he said during a 2007 interview with MTV News. "In my mind, I said, 'OK, I'm gonna sit down and I'm [going to] just write it and really do this thing a certain way.' But your natural process is your process. It's difficult to go back to what you was doing when you was 15, 16 years old. My process is different now. It sounds great on paper, like 'I'm [going to] sit down, I'm going to write the entire album like I did before.' But once you get back in the studio and you've been doing this process for years and years now, so it just felt natural to do it the way I've been doing it: no paper, no pen, just listen to the music."
See more of how fans are celebrating Jay-Z's birthday below.
You draw...better be Picasso.. you know the best.. cause if this is not so.. eh, God bless #HOV50 pic.twitter.com/XwshIuogHm
— 🥷🏽 (@vllxn) December 4, 2019
"As a youth explosively, clappin' off the roof
— CANES 7-1 (@_kingdavid) December 4, 2019
Shootin' guard like Kobe, raised up slay smears and bo'e
Back then, Gil was my co-d, Spanish Jose
Showed me how to get the money niggas owed me
Fast forward, no kids, six cars and three Rolies
Two cribs, trips to Cuba" #HOV50 https://t.co/XVxvEnc7C7
J-A-Y, Dash, Hoffa
— UPTWNStef (@EuroSteff) December 4, 2019
The past present
Nigga the future, proper
The Holy Trinity of Hip-Hop is us #HOV50 pic.twitter.com/YCzlCM3ryQ
Happy Birthday to the best to ever do it!
— Mary O (@LuckeeLefty11) December 4, 2019
“I arrived on the day Fred Hampton died, real niggas just multiply!” #HOV50
“I used to do it so the homeboy Clark, can get the fuck off my back while I knocked off these packs...”#Hov50 pic.twitter.com/E6cm1HmT2I
— Circus Recipe (@CircusRecipe) December 4, 2019
"Came through the bushes smelling like roses." Its been a year OG but you still holding it down. Looking forward to the vision you bring forth this year. Happy birthday #HOV50 pic.twitter.com/mKO7KAQYuw
— Jael R. Bakari (@thegoofysufi) December 4, 2019
"...I used to think rapping at 38 was ill... but last year alone I grossed 38 mill... I know I ain't quite 38 but still...the flow so special it got a .38 feel.... the real is back! *Hov Laugh*" #1TakeHov #Hov50
— #StayBlack (@JZFan) December 4, 2019
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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