Jay-Z believes rap is poetry . . . and he doesn't understand why rappers aren't mentioned alongside the greatest writers of all time.  He explains, quote, "Rap is poetry . . . it's thought-provoking, there's thought behind it.  There's great writing in rap as well.

 "You never hear rappers being compared for like the greatest writers of all time.  You hear Bob Dylan.  [But] so is Biggie Smalls, in a Hitchcock way.  Some of the things that Biggie wrote . . . Rakim, I mean, listen to some of the things he wrote . . .

"If you take those lyrics and you pull them away from the music, and put 'em up on the wall somewhere and someone had to look at them, they would say, 'This is genius!  This is genius work!'"

A lot of people DO consider rap to be poetry . . . but those who disagree would probably point out that most mainstream rap songs seem to be shallow statements about women, money and partying.  But Jay-Z wants you to think DEEPER.

He says, quote, "I want people to also take away the quick judgments.  Listen to the song, listen to its intent.  Try to figure out why a song like 'Big Pimpin' can exist . . . on the surface, is just fun and party music, but there's reasons behind that as well."