"I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer," reveales Jay-Z during a Vanity Fair interview. Scheduled to released on November, Vanity Fair sits down with Jay-Z as he talks about his life in the hood and his childhood as he try to make ends meet.

Jay-Z’s Rags To Riches Story

Also known as Shawn Corey Carter, Jay-Z was born in Brooklyn, New York with an estimated 500 Million net worth according to Forbes Magazine. The 43-year old rapper is consistently ranked as one of the greatest rappers of all time. In fact, Jay-Z was ranked number one by MTV in their list of the Greatest MCs of All Time in 2006.

While he was growing up, Jay says, "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."

Vanity Fair: Jay-Z’s Rags To Riches Story

When asked if his mother new about him dealing drugs as a teenager, he explains, "but we never really had those conversations. We just pretty much ignored it. But she knew. All the mothers knew. It sounds like 'How could you let your son . . . ' but I'm telling you, it was normal."

"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," reveals Jay-Z about his childhood.

But thanks to Jay-Z's checkered past, he knows how to deal with difficult situation especially as a sport agent: "I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer," he tells Vanity fair's contributing editor, Lisa Robinson. "To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up. Or if you want to start some sort of barbershop or car wash-those were the businesses back then. Things you can get in easily to get out of [that] life. At some point, you have to have an exit strategy, because your window is very small; you're going to get locked up or you're going to die."