Jay-Z teams with U.N. to tackle water crisis

Jay-Z, president of Def Jam Records, teamed up with the United Nations and MTV on Wednesday 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.

MTV crews will follow the rapper on his world tour, which begins Sept. 9. “The Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life” will feature first-person accounts of meetings with people around the world who lack water, MTV President Christina Norman said.

Jay-Z said he wants to build 1,000 “play pumps” in Africa by the time the tour is over. The devices feature a rudimentary merry-go-round that pumps water from a well into a storage tank as it spins.