After embarking on his career in 1994, he joined his siblings in the short-lived rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD) and guest appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul.

[4] Bey's 2000 single, "Oh No" (with Pharoahe Monch featuring Nate Dogg) remains his sole entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo act.

[10][11] After returning from filming You Take the Kids in Los Angeles, and getting into a relationship with an older girl, Bey dropped out of high school during sophomore year.

[10] Growing up in New York City, during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s, he has spoken about witnessing widespread instances of gang violence, theft, and poverty in society, which he largely avoided by working on plays, Off-Off-Broadway and arts programs.

[11] Bey began his music career in 1994, forming the group UTD (or Urban Thermo Dynamics) along with younger brother DCQ and high-school friend Ces.

[13] In 1996, Bey emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, "Universal Magnetic" in 1997.

[25] It included contributions by Shuggie Otis and Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish, and Will Calhoun as the Black Jack Johnson Band.

[33] In April 2009, Bey traveled to South Africa for the first time, and performed with The Robert Glasper Experiment at the renowned Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

He treated the South African audience with an encore, introduced by his own rendition of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, followed by a sneak preview of the track "M.D.

[37] Bey appeared with Harlem-bred rapper Jim Jones and the Black Keys on the Late Show with David Letterman to perform the Blakroc track "Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)".

In 2010, Bey featured on the first single, "Stylo", from the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, alongside soul legend Bobby Womack.

[39] Bey has been an active contributor to the recovery of the oil spill in the Gulf, performing concerts and raising money towards repairing its damages.

In June 2010, he recorded a cover of the classic New Orleans song originally by Smokey Johnson, "It Ain't My Fault" with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lenny Kravitz and Trombone Shorty.

"[44] Shortly after the name change announcement, Bey recorded as the narrator of the children's hip hop musical, Pacha's Pajamas: A Story Written By Nature.

"[49] After announcing his retirement, he expressed gratitude to everyone who has supported him over the years and revealed his intention to enter the fashion industry and complete a handful of films.

[50] In October 2016, a planned concert in London was cancelled due to travel restrictions imposed on the artist;[51] other European dates suffered the same fate.

In March 2019, he debuted his album, ንጉሥ (pronounced Negus) at a listening session as part of Art Basel Hong Kong.

[60] On June 28, 2019, Bey appeared on Bandana, an album by Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, alongside Black Thought, on a track named "Education".

[63] Prior to his career in music, Bey entered public life as a child actor, having played roles in television movies, sitcoms and theater, some of which were under the name Dante Beze.

After brief appearances in Bamboozled and Monster's Ball, Bey played a rapper who is reluctant to sign with a major label in Brown Sugar.

[67] In 2001, he took a supporting role to Beyoncé Knowles and Mehki Phifer in the MTV movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera as Lt. Miller, a crooked cop.

For his portrayal of Vivien Thomas in HBO's film Something the Lord Made, he was nominated for an Emmy[71] and a Golden Globe, and won the Image Award.

In 2006, Bey appeared in Dave Chappelle's Block Party alongside Black Star partner Talib Kweli, while also contributing to the film's soundtrack.

In March 2016, it was announced that he had been attached to star in "his last live-action film", The Disconnected, a science fiction thriller dealing with policing, identity, and the intersection of technology and humanity.

[82] On September 7, 2007, Bey appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher where he spoke about racism against African Americans, citing the government response to Hurricane Katrina, the Jena Six case, and the murder conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

[83] In September 2011, Bey joined the cast of the environmental children's hip hop musical Pacha's Pajamas: A Story Written By Nature as narrator.

In July 2013, he appeared in a short film released by the human rights organization Reprieve, depicting the forced-feeding methods used at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps.

[19] He has influenced numerous hip hop artists throughout his career, including Lupe Fiasco, Jay Electronica, Kid Cudi, and Saigon, and Logic.

[98] She was a motivational speaker and authored the book Shine Your Light: A Life Skills Workbook, where she details her experience as a single mother raising him.

[100] In January 2016, Bey was ordered to leave South Africa and not return for five years, having stayed in the country illegally on an expired tourist visa granted in May 2013.