Jay-Z: Being a drug dealer prepared me for business

OHMYGOSSIP —  Jay-Z says dealing crack helped him develop the business acumen he needed to become a music mogul. The star, who’s married to Beyonce, opened up in the new issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

“I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer,” he said, referring to his days on Brooklyn’s mean streets.

“To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up. If you want to start some sort of barbershop or carwash — those were the businesses back then. Things you can get in easily to get out of [that] life.

“You have to have an exit strategy, because your window [for dealing drugs] is very small. You’re going to get locked up or you’re going to die.”

Jay Z said he regrets having played a role in the city’s 1980s crack epidemic. He admitted that, at the time, he was thinking only about the money.

“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,” he said.

“I was thinking about surviving. I was thinking about improving my situation. I was thinking about buying clothes.”

Jay has been performing since the ’80s despite having once pledged to quit by age 30.

“I know I said I wouldn’t be doing it when I was 30,” he said, “so that’s how I know I love it. Thirty years old was my cutoff, but I’m still here, 43 years old.”