43-year-old rapper Jay Z has opened up about his drug-dealing days back in New York in a new interview with Vanity Fair. 

Speaking to the magazine about how he started making money to support himself, the '99 Problems' superstar confessed that he learned about budgets from selling crack and cocaine on the streets:

"I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer. To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up."

When asked if he regrets dealing illegal substances, Jay Z added that he had no problem with doing it at the time because it was for his own survival, but he eventually became concerned at the impact it had on his community so developed a conscience about it:

"Not until later, when I realised 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."