When I first learned JAY Z would be performing at this year’s Global Citizen Festival I couldn’t be more excited. I had the good fortune of seeing him at Coachella several years ago and was completely amazed at the hypnotizing effect he has on a crowd. Just look:
Of course there’s a lot more to JAY Z than what we hear on the radio or see on the stage. While he and Queen Bey are famous for keeping their personal lives private, JAY Z, (aka Shawn Carter) is widely known and respected for his work as a philanthropist.
In 2003, he founded the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation, dedicated to helping low-income students “further their education at institutions of higher learning.”
The Foundation is run by his mother, Gloria Carter. Unlike other scholarship foundations, it seeks out students who are often ignored by the Board of Education, such as single mothers, children who attend alternative schools, students who have earned a GED, students with grade point averages of 2.0 and students who have previously been incarcerated but desire a higher educational opportunity.
In 2006, he set his mind to addressing a global crisis that Global Citizens are familiar with: a lack of access to clean water, and sanitation. First, he met with MTV and invited a crew to accompany him to Angola and South Africa. Then, he he set the ambitious goal of getting the United Nations involved.
The result was a public-awareness campaign lead by the UN and launched with a 30 minute documentary, "Diary of JAY Z: Water for Life," which aired on MTV.
Reflecting on the challenges of his own life in comparison to those he met during his trip, he said,
"It made me realize that as tough as we had it -- and there are tough neighborhoods in the places that I grew up -- but that's not the bottom," he said. "You know they say 'I'm from the bottom.' It's not really the bottom, because you have water, and roads [that] are paved, and you can go to school ... You don't have to play out in open sewage. Now that's the 'hood."
Increasing access to education and clean water & sanitation have always been priorities of Global Citizen, and this year they are at the heart of the 2014 Global Citizen Festival. As an advocate and leader on both fronts he’s given us just one more reason to be excited about his involvement in the festival this year.
Get your diamonds in the sky, it’s going to be a great show!
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