Jay-Z Discusses Hanging With Oprah, Responds to T-Pain

Jay-Z is opening up about his top-secret interview with media mogul Oprah Winfrey. The Brooklyn-born emcee explained that his sit-down with the talk show queen was necessary for the evolution of the hip-hop culture. "We sat down and had a conversation, and it was like 'this is not about me coming on your show. This is more about an understanding,'" he said.

In the past, Winfrey has been very vocal in her criticism of hip-hop music so news of her sit-down with Jay came as a surprise to many. "Even with the backlash I still represent hip-hop and I represent the culture. When I have conversations with Oprah and Bill Maher, I represent the culture. So we had a conversation about what she meant to the culture and how important she was and [that] we weren't upset with her. We were disappointed because she was someone that we championed. To not have the respect to at least sit us down and have a conversation about it showed the lack of respect."

Hov also squashed a possible beef with T-Pain stating that he was unfazed by Pain saying "F--- Jay-Z," while DJing at a Las Vegas nightclub. Rapper Fabolous outed the reigning king of auto-tune via his Twitter page, writing that Pain's words were "backlash from D.O.A"

"I made it very clear I wasn't talking about him [T-Pain]," Jay said of 'D.O.A' "I think he's talented, I don't think he needs auto-tune to sell records but that's his prerogative. D.O.A. was just for the conversation, whether you were for it or against it. Obviously some people felt that way or else the song wouldn't have a life. It wouldn't be this provocative, it wouldn't be such a hot button issue."

Pain also took a shot at Jay's age during his rant, joking that the rapper was 59-years-old."Well, everybody has a birthday," Jay said of being 40. "They don't have much else to say, they can't attack my credentials as an artist or my lyrics as an MC. Even still with all these guys running around...I still represent Hip-Hop and I represent the culture."

Jay's highly anticipated 'Blueprint 3' album is in stores now.