Jay-Z To Raise Awareness Of Global Water Crisis

Jay-Z, rapper and president of Def Jam Records, announced on Wednesday that he will work with the United Nations and MTV to get children involved in the fight against the worldwide water crisis. He cited statistics that 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water and 2.6 billion lack proper sanitation.

The singer said that when he visited Africa on tour he was shocked at how many of the world’s poor had no access to sanitary water services.

“As I started looking around and looking at ways that I could become helpful, it started at the first thing — water, something as simple as water,” he said at a news conference at U.N. headquarters with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

MTV film crews will follow the rapper on his worldwide tour, which begins Sept. 9. “The Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life” will record meetings with people around the world who lack water.

Jay-Z said he wants to build 1,000 PlayPumps in Africa by the time the tour is over. He also hopes that children who learn about the crisis will tell their parents, who might be able to do something about it.