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    Rap mogul and entrepreneur Jay-Z was once a crack dealer in the Brooklyn projects.

    Today, Jay-Z is a businessman who owns part of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, but when he was known as Shawn Carter, he was a drug dealer in Brooklyn’s Marcy projects.

    Brad Hamilton in The New York Post writes:

    "[Jay-Z's] done so well, many have forgotten he started as a street hustler from the grim Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant who sold crack by the kilo, was nearly murdered by a rival and narrowly escaped jail after cops pulled him over when his car was loaded with cocaine."