Set to be released on November, Vanity Fair reveals an intimate interview with Jay-Z as he opens up about his life before fame, his struggles with drugs and his glittering world as we know it today.

Jay-Z, Vanity Fair's November Issue

Born as Shawn Carter, Jay-Z sits down with contributing editor Lisa Robinson as he talks about his renewed faith in America, where growing up in the hood is a daily struggle for black kid. Regarding Barack Obama's 2008 election, he say's, "actually renewed my spirit for America. It was like, Oh, wow, man, this whole thing about land of the free, home of the . . . it's, like, real-it's going to happen, everyone's getting to participate in it. But growing up, if you had ever told a black person from the hood you can be president, they'd be like, I could never . . . If you had told me that as a kid, I'd be like, Are you out of your mind? How?"

"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.

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."

Jay-Z tells Robinson that his mother new about him dealing drugs as a teenager but pretended that she didn't, 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."

He tells VF that eventhough he was dealing crack in the neighborhood he never used it. When asked if he ever felt guilty about it, he say's, "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."

Now married to pop's superstar Beyonce, Jay-Z can't help but to gush about his 18-month old daughter, Blue Ivy, whom he claims his biggest fan and prefers his music over Beyonce.

"That's not true. She does like her mother's music-she watches [Beyoncé's concerts] on the computer every night. But my album came out and I don't know if Blue ever heard any of my music prior to this album-she's only 18 months old and I don't play my music around the house. But this album was new, so we played it. And she loves all the songs. She plays a song and she goes, 'More, Daddy, more . . . Daddy song.' She's my biggest fan. If no one bought the Magna Carta [album], the fact that she loves it so much, it gives me the greatest joy. And that's not like a cliché. I'm really serious. Just to see her-'Daddy song, more, Daddy.' She's genuine, she's honest, because she doesn't know it makes me happy. She just wants to hear it."