Rapper Jay-Z helps UN focus on world water crisis

Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z wants to use his influence on young people to get them to conserve water at a time when poor nations cannot get enough safe drinking water.
Jay-Z told a news conference at U.N. headquarters on Wednesday that he will use his world concert tour beginning Sept. 9 to visit poor regions lacking clean water. His record company said details of his tour have not been announced.
Jay-Z, who is president and chief executive officer of New York-based Def Jam Recordings as well as a performer, also plans to narrate an MTV documentary, “Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life,” that will air on Nov. 24.
“As I started looking around and looking at ways I can become helpful, it started with water. Something as simple as water,” said Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. “Young people need to know the problem exists.”
Jay-Z said he hopes young people will learn to conserve water at a time when 4,500 children die daily from preventable diseases caused by poor sanitation and a lack of water.
More than 1 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water while 2.6 billion have no access to proper sanitation, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in announcing a partnership with the rapper and the MTV network.
Annan said many people take water for granted but that nearly 2 million people die each year because of unclean water and poor sanitation, far more than from wars. (11.08.2006 –   Turkish Daily News)