Jay-Z wants to start a family

The '99 Problems' rapper - who married his long-term girlfriend Beyonce Knowles earlier this year - is looking forward to becoming a father.

He said: "Most people dream of having a family someday. So I'm just a regular American boy."

Jay-Z was recently honoured at the UN Global Leadership Awards Gala in New York for his work bringing clean water to young people during a recent trip to Africa. He admits the trip had a huge affect on him as he got to see the problems in the country first hand, and it inspired him to continue his humanitarian work.

He said: "I went to Africa, spent a couple weeks in Angola. A bunch of different places. That was the whole thing for me. I've given to charities in the past and you close your eyes and cross your fingers and hope that the money gets there.

"With this I got to go to Africa, I got to see the water pumps, I got to touch it, I got to see the kids turn them on."

Despite spending so much time with young people in Africa, the star was not inspired to adopt like other celebrities - such as Madonna and Angelina Jolie - have.

He said: "No, I don't want to bring any kids home."

Music-news.com October 4th 2008