The cover story examines Hova’s transition from the mic booth to the boardroom. Chronicling his rise from Brooklyn hustler to superstar rapper and now savvy business man and executive, the feature follows Jay into a weekly Def Jam meeting, to the premiere of Rocawear at the Magic Convention in Las Vegas and to London as he briefs his international Def Jam marketing team and later receives British GQ’s International Man of the Year award. In addition to showing his day-to-day operations as DJ’s president, the story tells why he took the position.

“I’m doing this for other artists and people in this [Hip-Hop] culture,” Hov told Fortune regarding his decision to take the Def Jam presidency. “There’s nothing hot about a 45-year-old rapper.”

The piece also highlights the doubts Jiggaman has faced since becoming president. While Kanye West has been one of the company’s most successful releases this year, Antonio “L.A.” Reid deserves credit for its top selling artist, Mariah Carey. Furthermore, four of the acts Jay has signed and released this year, Memphis Bleek, Young Gunz, Rihanna and Teairra Mari, have put up mediocre sales.

“People were worried about all sorts of things,” and insider told Fortune “from whether he’d be able to pick artists-because being an artist doesn’t mean you can pick other artists-to whether he’d do any work at all.”

Jay later adds, “I’ve lived with people’s expectations all my life. They think, ‘Okay, you’re president, someone should go platinum tomorrow,’ even though there are so many people in the music business who haven’t broken one act for five years. I can’t base my life on that.”

Fortune Magazine’s October issue featuring Jay-Z on the cover is on newsstands now.