Jay Z Vanity Fair Interview: Get the details of hip hop mogul Jay Z's life and relationship with Beyonce!  Jay Z is usually a very private person about his personal life, but he spilled the details in this month's Vanity Fair interview.
Jay Z talked about his struggling childhood growing up in the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn in the Vanity Fair interview: "We were living in a tough situation, but my mother managed; she juggled. Sometimes we'd pay the light bill, sometimes we paid the phone, sometimes the gas went off. We weren't starving-we were eating, we were O.K. But it was things like you didn't want to be embarrassed when you went to school; you didn't want to have dirty sneakers or wear the same clothes over again."

Jay Z described his experience with the crack epidemic in the Vanity Fair interview, saying: "crack was everywhere-it was inescapable. There wasn't any place you could go for isolation or a break. You go in the hallway; [there are] crackheads in the hallway. You look out in the puddles on the curbs-crack vials are littered in the side of the curbs. You could smell it in the hallways, that putrid smell; I can't explain it, but it's still in my mind when I think about it."

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According to the Vanity Fair interview, Jay Z sold crack but never smoked it - and while he didn't initially feel guilt over the effect on the community, later he realized the effects: "Not until later, when I realized the effects on the community. I started looking at the community on the whole, but in the beginning, no. I was thinking about surviving. I was thinking about improving my situation. I was thinking about buying clothes."
Would Jay Z have been able to date Beyonce if he weren't so successful?  Jay Z responded in his Vanity Fair interview: "If I'm as cool as I am, yes. But she's a charming Southern girl, you know, she's not impressed. . . . But I would have definitely had to be this cool."

Regarding the rumors that Beyonce faked her pregnancy, Jay Z said in the Vanity Fair interview: "I don't even know how to answer that. It's just so stupid. You know, I felt dismissive about it, but you've got to feel for her. I mean, we've got a really charmed life, so how can we complain? But when you think about it, we're still human beings. . . . And even in hip-hop, all the blogs-they had a field day with it. I'm like, We come from you guys, we represent you guys. Why are you perpetuating this? Why are you adding fuel to this ridiculous rumor?"