Jay-Z Trying To Be The New Bono

Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z believes that worldwide water shortages are issues that must be dealt with, and he's just the man to deal with them.

Jay-Z held a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York City with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday morning regarding a partnership to try and bring attention and relief to the many parts of the world that lack safe drinking water.

The artist/label executive will travel around the globe to several areas that are affected by the water crisis next month. His experiences will be documented by MTV and aired in a November 24 special titled Diary Of Jay-Z: Water For Life. The special will shows Jay-Z's interaction with some of the more than one billion people without access to safe drinking water and will capture his visits to places where sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions are underway to bring fresh water to devastated communities.

"It's a huge responsibility, and humbling at the same time," Jay-Z told MTV News after the news conference.

"If you bring awareness to other young people, they're gonna see [that] and want to be involved. I'm not a politician — I'm just a regular person with a heart. If you see a problem like that and do nothing about it, there's something wrong with you."

Annan began the press conference by presenting statistics that showed that more than 4,500 children die each day from preventable diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.

Jay-Z said he's donated money to help build "play pumps" — a merry-go-round-like apparatus that pumps clean drinking water from a deep borehole every time a child spins it — in areas where they're needed. He's also emailed many of his friends in the entertainment industry, encouraging them to participate in his crusade to try and build 1,000 pumps.In addition to the humanitarian element of Hova's tour, he'll also be performing along the way. "Music is escapism," he said.

"Also, I'll take joy in the fact for that two hours or however long I'm playing, everyone can enjoy themselves and forget about the issue we're talking about."

The full tour itinerary hasn't yet been announced, but it will begin on September 9 in Poland and will also include Turkey.