An Obituary For Jay-Z's Hyphen

R.I.P.

Hyphen Mark, a punctuation mark who spent decades separating the word "Jay" and letter "Z," died on July 17 in a 134 character tweet that did not contain Hyphen. He was 19.

Although he went missing in the credits of "Watch The Throne," Mr. Mark was soon found, and managed to survive for over two more years, with the help of various unadvised magazines and newspapers. He was taken off life support at 9:25 p.m. Wednesday evening.

Less than a centimeter long, Hyphen closely resembled, but was not to be confused with either Dash or Minus Sign. Most recently, Mr. Mark is remembered fondly for his role in the "Magna Carta Holy Grail" album reviews. In addition to working with the rapper, Mr. Mark played a brief, but influential role in his work with Bread Jay-Z.

Hyphen Mark was born on the posse cut "Show & Prove." He worked diligently as a crucial player in written discussions of then Jay-Z's rap battles with LL Cool J.

One of the most joyous moments of Mr. Mark's life was his prominent placement on Jay-Z's marriage certificate to Ms. Beyonce Knowles. He was also a loyal friend through Jay's multiple retirements and continued his support of the rapper on numerous criminal records.

Style guides have expressed an outpouring of grief. One copy editor noted that "line-wrapping will be incredibly difficult without him."

Hyphen Mark is survived by Single Space.

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