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By Henry Adaso, About.com Guide to Rap / Hip-Hop

Jay-Z Tours the World to Fight Water Crisis

Thursday August 10, 2006

When I first learned of Jay-Z's alliance with the United Nations, I knew there had to be something more to it. Turns out Hov will be killing two birds with one stone; touring the world and helping curb world water crisis. Hov's journey, which kicks off in Poland September 9th, will be documented by MTV. The documentary, "Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life," will air November 24th, 2006 on MTV. The Def Jam president met with MTV president Christina Norman and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday (August 9th) to discuss the project.

"In the beginning, when I was going out on a world tour, I was going out to play music," Jay-Z told Billboard.com. "But I said to myself, I can't go to these places I've been and not go out and see the people that have been touched by my music for over 10 years. From that morphed, 'Well, I'm not just going to go over there and rap to them.' I'm going to help and see what I can do in these areas." MTV plans to offer informational resources as part of the initiative. While Jay hasn't said that he'll capture the water crisis on a song a la Kanye West's "Diamonds (From Sierra Leone)," he didn't rule out the possibility.

"Every 15 seconds a child dies from not having clean water," said Jay-Z. "That's just staggering numbers and I figured that if the information was out and young people knew that these problems exist that they'd get involved." Real talk. It's refreshing to see a hip-hop icon intervene world issues in a manner that doesn't necessaily scream "business move." Oh, wait, it does.

Jay-Z Related Articles

  • Jay-Z Says He'll Collaborate with Nas on Hip-Hop Is Dead
  • Jay-Z Boycotts Cristal



    Photo:© Roc-A-Fella
    • Comments (4)
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    Comments

    August 25, 2006 at 3:27 pm
    (1) Soledad says:

    I applaud Jay’s efforts because he’s going overseas to HELP people.Its time 4 the hip
    hop community to take positive steps toward social awareness and eventually social
    change.Hova, in addition the rest of u should check newwaveenviro.com to make some
    change here- tap water filters and bio degradable water bottles?!!–Our water’s not as safe as we
    think! we have a water crisis here too…

    September 1, 2006 at 11:44 am
    (2) soledad says:

    I applaud Jay’s efforts because he’s going overseas to HELP people.Its time 4 the hip
    hop community to take positive steps toward social awareness and eventually social
    change.Hova, in addition to the rest of u, should check newwaveenviro.com to make some
    change here- tap water filters and bio degradable water bottles?!!–Our water’s not as safe as we
    think! we have a water crisis here too…

    May 29, 2007 at 9:51 am
    (3) leonardo says:

    hola maniga, i know jigga is the man good luck, water is very important in hyginic way and in anyway to a man living

    July 11, 2008 at 10:14 am
    (4) Michael says:

    I would like to help people taking consciousness of actual water crisis to stop it !, maybe wearing an stimulating t-shirt? I’ve found:
    .
    www.StopWaterCrisis.com
    .
    with an incredible image of our “home” as you have never seen before…!

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